


A Change Would Do You Good

by BubuBORG



Series: Team Medi: The Lord of the Reids [3]
Category: SilverHawks, Star Trek, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types, Thundercats - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 07:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubuBORG/pseuds/BubuBORG
Summary: Having parted ways, Starfleet Officers Adam and Joshua make their way through Middle-earth;  Adam west to Ithilien, Josh to Rohan.  Between them, Leonardo tries to make his way in order to be reunited with his family.





	1. You'll See

February in Manhattan Island was usually a cold, snowy affair. The drifts in Central Park rose as high as two or three meters in parts.For the children of the diplomatic community that lived on the island, it meant a time of frivolity.

Bruffi K’gar was having himself a ball.

The twelve-year-old Cainian boy carried a sled up a rather large hill, close to the Central Park Zoo. He and a group of friends tromped up the hill and slid down, over and over again.

His older sister, Buffi, watched as Bruffi engaged in the sledding until they walked and sledded the snow off the hill.Then they all moved on to the next hill.

She walked along as Bruffi kept running from hill to hill with all of his friends from the Federation school.She wasn’t really thinking of anything.It was about a month and a half since she came from Cain to visit her mother and her younger brother.There really wasn’t a conversation that she and her mother had that didn’t end in Dunei telling her daughter that it would be best for her to return to the Academy and complete her Starfleet training.Buffi only had a few final tests to take, including the long dreaded _Kobayashi Maru_ simulation.Though she wondered if she wasn’t already living the no-win scenario. 

“Hey girl!”

Buffi turned around to see who was calling.A woman in a bright purple parka was waving at her.

“Buffi!”

She recognized her from her signature color alone.She smiled and started walking toward her.

“Judie!”

Judeth Corell was Buffi’s best friend growing up on Manhattan.The daughter of Federation diplomat Grant Corell, Judie was often Buffi’s designated buddy at many diplomatic gatherings and functions.Like Buffi, she was old hat at being at a party, but was often times more reserved, hiding behind cups of punch and buffet tables.As a result, she often had problems with her weight, and was always trying a new diet.It became clear to Buffi, However, that Starfleet got her on a regimen which obviously agreed with her.Her stocky frame was slimmer than Buffi could ever remember. 

When the two reached each other, they held each other, shaking snow all over their coats.

“You look amazing!” Buffi said to Judie.“What did they do to you?”

“When I started in the academy, they put me on a diet. The rest is exercise and training.”

“You’re on leave?” Buffi asked.

“Uh-huh.I’m stationed up in Spacedock.”

Buffi smiled.“Well, I’m happy for you.”

Judie nodded, then her face twisted.

“Don’t.Mom got to you, didn’t she?”

“We’re worried about you,” Judie replied.“And, to be honest, I’m _real_ worried.You haven’t been this bad since—”

“I don’t know.I just feel like I’m at a crossroads,” Buffi said.“Like…Like something’s happening, and I’ve got to go a certain way, or else…”

“Well, do you want my opinion?” Judie asked.

“Judie, I would _love_ your opinion,” Buffi said, folding her arms over her chest.

“I would love for you to go ahead and graduate from the Academy.You know you’ve got it.You know you can be a Starfleet officer.Hell, you’ll probably outrank me within a year of Commencement.”

“Well, I did like the command track,” Buffi admitted. “Do you remember, I was bossing everyone around in C & C sims?” Buffi snapped her fingers.“Everyone fell into place, just like that.”

“See?You have a talent.You’re bossy!”Judie joked.

A silent moment passed, and the two watched Bruffi continue to pillage the pristine snow banks.

“You still don’t want to talk about it, do you,” Judie said, quietly.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” Buffi replied.“I can’t even say his name anymore.”

“Would it be racist of me to hate Cardassian males for you?”Judie asked.

“Probably,” Buffi said.“But I forgive you.”

“You’re staying at the Cainian Embassy?” Judie asked.

“Uh-huh.It’s good to be a _Diablador_ ,” Buffi emulating the noble she was supposed to be.

“It would be just as good to be a starship captain,” Judie prodded.

“I could learn more martial arts and roam the land, beating up mean men,” Buffi suggested.

“You’d do that anyway, who are you kidding?” Judie laughed.

Finally, Bruffi, covered from head to toe with snow, walked up to them and said to Buffi.

“Can we go home now?”He asked his sister.“Hi, Judie.”

“Hey, chief,” Judie said.

“Killed enough snow banks for the day?” Buffi asked him.

“Not really,” Bruffi said.“I usually quit once I’ve got snow in my shorts.”

Judie chortled.“Well, I’ll leave you two to it.”She held onto Buffi’s shoulder.“You give me a call.You gotta promise.”

Buffi nodded.“I promise.”

 

As the two Cainian siblings walked to the edge of the park, where they’d be taxied back to the Embassy, Buffi believed she would.

There was just one loose thread.

Its name was Damar.

 

On Planet Arda, in the region known as Rohan, Joshua Maurice Reid finally touched down.The land was hilly, with pale green grasses covering the land, with little brush and small streams from time to time interrupting the ups and downs of the area.It was nothing like the low marshlands of Louisiana, where he was raised.He never thought he lived a clichéd existence outside of New Orleans, but he started to get the picture once he noticed the raised eyebrows when he started talking about alligators in the backyard as casually as if he was mentioning a pesky raccoon.Then there was his Cajun patois, which seemed to get stronger the more stronger he felt about something.Oh, yes, and he also loved to cook the local cuisine, with blackened chicken and liberal amounts of cayenne pepper and paprika.His father was a Cajun chef in the French Quarter of the ancient city by the Mississippi Delta, and Josh picked up all the tips he could.Cooking for a girl was an added bonus.

Josh grumbled as he looked around.There seemed to be little in game in the hills save for the local lagomorphs and, gods forbid, the groundhog-like creatures which inhabited the lands of Rohan.There seemed little hope for another deer, which seemed to inhabit the Fangorn Forest, which lay to the North.That was counter to where Josh was headed, and he was told not to enter it.

Besides, Josh was trailing a small group of horsemen he had found from the Fords of Isen for the last day or so.There he had found a large group of Orcs, dead, piled high, next to the remains of a small village.There, the dead humanoids were treated much worse in death than the orcs were, which seemed to be piled into a crematory pile.The women and children were not spared, though they were scattered.In pieces.Josh considered himself rather glad he had a strong stomach.

 

_Éomer, Éomer_ , Josh thought as he looked over the next hill with his miniature binoculars.It zoomed in on the riders, and he saw that the Riders wore riding-friendly mail with leather leggings and boots, similar to what he wore.The horse motif was apparent from there.One rider wore a more elaborate helmet with a horsehair piece from the top.He wore a dark blond beard and the other troops deferred to him.This has got to be him, he thought.

But here was the problem, and it confounded him: How to break the ice?How to say, ‘Hi!’?And, most crucially, how to earn the Rohirrim’s trust?

 

“Stay where you are!”A rough voice commanded him.Josh tensed.Adrenaline kicked in and a decision had to be made.Would he allow himself to be taken, or would he run away?

He silently pushed a button on his tricorder, sitting in front of him on the ground.He looked at its display.It immediately told him that his assailant was not an Orc.

He decided to actually try his thoughts.“Hi!” he said, not moving on the ground.“How are you today?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m from the North,” Josh said, trying out his cover.“My name’s Joshua.”

“You spy like a coward!” The man exclaimed. Josh felt the point of a dagger against the back of his head.

“I’ve been following you.I must meet with Éomer,” He said.

Josh was forced to his feet, and was marched to the grouping of horses.Josh felt a pang of regret that he no longer had Seaspray, his mount from the trip from the Grey Havens to Rivendell.He had the distinct impression that anyone here who did not have a mount was suspect.The riders looked upon him with suspicion and confusion.Josh, like most of them, was fair-haired and blue-eyed.Josh even had a wispy chin patch, though it was dwarfed by the facial hair that had run rampant over the Riders’ faces.The Rider who Joshua pegged as Éomer walked toward him.

“This is perilous land,” He told Joshua.“It’s not safe to trek across it without intent.”

“I’ve come from the North.The Lady of the Golden Wood told me that you would help me.”

Éomer looked upon him with renewed suspicion.“The Lady’s sorcery is not unknown to us.But not all tales are fair.A test then!”He said, with a mischievous smile.“We ride back to the edge of the Living Wood.If you can keep up with the Riders of Rohan for the entire journey, then you will have earned my trust!”

The other riders laughed raucously, and Josh sneered inwardly.More than three men grouped together, and it becomes a schoolyard gang.Then again, this was tough country, and you had to be just as tough to survive and fit in.The Rohirrim were all tall and statuesque, and Josh was barrel-chested and stocky. 

Of course, Josh always had a plan.

He stood there as the Riders began to mount their horses, and folded his arms.Éomer gave him a withering look, as if he was disappointed that Josh hadn’t even asked for a head start.

“See you at the edge of Fangorn,” Josh called.

Josh found that the forest was roughly a day’s travel for the Rohirrim.He watched as they rode away, then he turned on his metahuman ability: He was able to create a biokinetic field which could propel him at terrific speeds. So as far as the Riders could see, he was always behind them.Éomer was visibly spooked; he forced the other riders to pick up the pace more than once.It was late afternoon when Josh decided to spy the terrain up ahead.The forest was looming ahead of them, merely twenty kilometers away, but still three hours away for the Riders.Josh decided to go for broke.

 

Éomer reached the edge of the Forest, where he’d left yet another pile of the abominable Uruks from two nights ago in another raid.Perhaps some of the riders were spooked or bewitched; They kept reporting from the rear that the mysterious Joshua continued to keep up with a group of the swiftest horses in Eriador.Éomer smirked.The man would be as good as dead if he did not return to his village or find himself a horse to ride. 

It was at the height of his arrogance that he saw another figure ahead, at the edge of the wood, waving at him.He made for the other riders to bear upon him, and encircle him.It was a strange enough day as it was.

Joshua had beaten them to the forest!

“Hey, y’all!”He exclaimed, grinning.“Dang, my legs feel like they’re gonna fall off!”

Several lances pointed at him as Éomer did the same.“Perhaps we should indulge you.”

Josh’s tone became indignant.“That’s a fine attitude to have!Y’all have your cavaliers and lances, and I just have li’l ol’ me sitting down here.Who’s the coward now?”

Éomer glared at him, and dismounted.He took off his helmet, revealing a wild mane of hair and wide, expressive eyes.“For one trying to prove himself an ally, you speak like a villain!” he sneered.“I do not need my steed or my arms to prove your better.Fisticuffs!”

“Fine!”Josh replied.“Hang back, boys, we’re going to need some room to go round an’ round!”He peeled off his mail shirt, revealing his gray Starfleet-issue undershirt.Éomer, in turn stripped to the waist, and presented his fists.

“Say when,” Josh sneered.

“Defend yourself,” Éomer said, bracing for Josh’s first punch.

Josh kicked Éomer squarely in the chest.

He then followed up with a left punch and a right, and finished with a combined fist blow to the back.

“Come on!” Josh taunted.“If you play to win, it’s gotta be no holds barred!Give me all you got!”

He didn’t anticipate Éomer’s sudden burst of strength as he lunged for him.Josh lost his balance and went down. 

The Marshal of Rohan pinned Josh to the ground, and pummeled him repeatedly.“Cur!Villain!Damnable scoundrel!” cursed Éomer as he continued with his assault.

Until Josh held his fist with his own glowing hand.

“I think you’ve proven your point,” He said, as Éomer looked on in shock.The other Riders also backed off, as Josh pushed Éomer off of him, got up, and dusted himself off. 

“You are a sorcerer!” Éomer breathed. 

“Like hell!” Josh replied.“Just got born with something extra, is all.But I am on your side.I’m associated with Gandalf.”

Éomer nodded.“His name is known here.He arrived at Edoras and retrieved one of our finest horses, Shadowfax, but that was nearly six months hence.Where is he now?”

“Out an’ about, as far as I know,” Josh replied.“But I was told, seriously, that I had an ally with you and your cousin, Théodred.Where is he?”

Éomer looked down, his eyes hooded.“He is slain.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”Josh looked at Éomer.“Now I’ve been tracking you for several battles now, and I’d say you have a rather nasty infestation of these orc guys.”

“They come from Isengard to plague the land,” Éomer said to him.“Saruman no longer is kind to Rohan; he means to crush us now.”

“They’re bad news.I outran like a million of them coming out of Moria,” Josh said, nodding.“How can there be so many?”

“They’re bred, like animals.That’s what I have heard.They are not thinking creatures like you and I.They only hear the will of their master, and do their evil with relish.”

Josh shook his head.“If they’re being specially made, then that means that Saruman can make a hundred orcs for each of your men.How are you coping?”

Éomer stood a little more straight.“Because we are Men of Rohan!”with that, his men erupted in roars of agreement and cheer, “And we are worth _two hundred_ of them!”

“That’s well and good,” Josh said, “But y’haven’t gone to your home base in nearly a week.”

“We…are not welcome at the Golden Hall.We are expatriates, battling these orcs against the will…if you can call it his…of my uncle and King, Théoden.”

“What does that mean?”Josh said.

Come, ride with us!”Éomer said, suddenly.“I will tell you our tale.”

Josh was given a mount, which, he was told, once belonged to the fallen prince.The horse, named Fréalaf, was of a good temperament, but trained to surge forward, sometimes a little faster than Josh was accustomed with.Seaspray was much more accommodating.But Fréalaf took to him rather well, and adapted.

“You ride well,” Éomer complimented Josh.

“Thanks,” Josh replied.“I learned how to ride back home, at the Complex.”

“The Complex?” Éomer asked.

Inwardly, Josh slapped his forehead.So much for his cover.He decided to be honest.“The Reid Complex…It’s sort of like Edoras.About three hundred years ago, in South Carolina, The Reid Complex was created as a refuge during a great war. My ancestors lived there for a generation before they set back out into the country.But it stayed there, as a reminder that it did something good in one of our darkest hours.”

Éomer asked Josh, “Where is Southern Carolina?”

Josh hesitated.“It’s a little hard to get to from here.”

“I would one day like to visit the Reid Complex.Walk in its halls.”

“Well, It’s run by…”Josh again decided to go for broke.“I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Starfleet?”

Éomer’s wild eyes widened into saucers.“Starfleet!”

Josh was wary.“I’ll take that as a yes?”

“He has spoken of Star Fleet…mumbled about it in his sleep…I must ask you, how do you know of Star Fleet?”

Josh stroked his chin.“Would you believe that I’m a Starfleet officer?”

Éomer smiled, as if it was the best thing he had heard in days.“I would very much like to.”

 

They continued their ride east, patrolling along known orc marching paths.Éomer told Josh of the state of affairs in Edoras.“Théoden has had an advisor for many years, named Grima.We know not where he came from, but he soon insinuated himself in the King’s counsel before either I or Théodred could say otherwise.At first it seemed fair; He had a way of telling the King whether a messenger or a witness spoke true of false.But soon, it became obvious that the King’s will was no longer his own.His visage became pale, he aged beyond his years, became frail.He is no longer the hale rider he was merely five years prior.I blame Wormtongue.”

“With a name like Wormtongue, you’d think he’d be kept away from rather easily,” Josh said raising his eyebrows.“It doesn't really generate trust.”

“Many of us called him that because his words seemed to worm into people, as if…It is hard to explain.He could…make one do something he would not otherwise wish to do.Many of the other King’s advisors found themselves falling from cliffs.”

Josh mind worked.It was obvious, he thought.Wormtongue was a telepath who was ordering others against their will.He himself had only limited success against psychic attack.In his days in SAGR, his sparring partner was one Anthony Carr, a powerful TP and telekinetic.Tony taught him some mental blocking strategy, but no matter how strong the mental wall was that Josh brought up, Tony found some way around it, or knocked it down outright.And Josh did not like having no defense against a foe.

“Is it common for your people to have the Gift?” Josh asked.“For being able to read minds, to have flashes of the future, anything like that?”

Éomer shook his head.“That is the realm of wizardry, beyond us.”

“You say that Wormtongue just…showed up one day?”

“We know not of his fathers, no.He has no family of his own, though he says he has a nephew.”

“No wonder you’re wary of new neighbors,” Josh said.“What are you going to do about it?”

Éomer leaned in, and said, “I would ask a favor.”

Josh smiled and said, “I’m all ears.”

“I would have you travel to Edoras and pose as a Rider.I would have you keep guard over the virtue of my sister, Éowyn,” Éomer leaned in even closer.“He leers at her in an unclean manner.”

Josh groaned inwardly.He was being asked to baby-sit Éomer’s kid sister!However, on the other hand, it gave him the excuse he needed to be there at all, even if it was doubly covert.And it would gain him an instant ally in the girl, who probably wasn’t fond of Wormtongue’s attentions.

“I’ll do it,” Josh told Éomer, “But how am I going to get inside Edoras if you’re outcasts?I am flying under your banner, after all.”

“The outer guardsmen will allow you entry with mention of my regards.There is no love shared for Grima outside of the Golden Hall.It is inside the hall of my Uncle that you must be wary.The guards would do as Théoden King would say, even if they were not, too, bewitched by his foul tongue.”

Brainwashed guards.multiple hostiles.A telepath of unknown quantity—and yet, the name Grima sounded familiar.Could it be…?

“Sounds like a plan,” Josh said, extending his hand, closing the deal.

Éomer took it.“Éowyn is worth this risk, my friend.You’ll see.”

Josh decided against asking how much Éowyn’s dowry was worth, and instead turned to Éomer’s flanking rider, Wod’n, who gave him his helmet and spear.He took them, but decided against any further trade.

“This was a gift from the Lady,” Josh said, “Probably made of mithril, the mail-shirt, and the cloak—-you understand?”

Wod’n nodded, slightly blasé, and Éomer seconded it.“Any further similarities in our garb would align you perhaps too close to us expatriates.Better to stand apart.Go!Fly to Edoras!”

Josh wished he could.He wished he could find the strength to carry Fréalaf on his shoulders to Edoras.One thing was for certain, he was reigniting his love of horseback riding on this mission.He tightened the reins on Fréalaf, and Josh was soon southward bound.

 

In a golden Hall, a figure slid across a marble-tile floor to a private chamber, filled with crumpled and disheveled papers.A chest of drawers sat emptied, with dirty linens and clothing littered at its feet.The figure’s eyes darted from the door to the beeping noise which permeated his bed table.He grabbed the handle, causing a trinket to fall out, continuing to beep.It was gold and silver, shaped like the ever-present horse motif of Rohan.He grabbed it and hissed, “Here.”

“There is a Starfleet comm badge transponder signal closing in on your location,” a haughty, slightly regal voice told him.“You know what to do.”

Further back in the open drawer was a dagger, and he took it, held onto it like it was a life raft. His look was that of petrified fear. 

“I’ll be ready.”


	2. More Human Than Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kit continues to struggle with Kat's problems.
> 
> Adam makes his way to the Dead Marshes, and falls afoul of a Dark Rider. At the Morannon, he kidnaps an Easterling deserter.
> 
> Zanie tracks his charges.

The ThunderCats had never made contact with Third Earth’s sister planet, Arda.However, in their Cat’s lair, communications had been intercepted by Tygra.The tiger worked the controls, tried to decipher them as best as he could, but the words were so cryptic, he could still garner no meaning from them.

“What does it mean, Tygra?” Lion-O asked.Lion-O was Lord of the ThunderCats, their young leader.

“For a moment, I thought I picked up a Starfleet transmission,” Tygra replied.“But then this temporal anomaly, and then…” Tygra gestured his hands away from him.“Nothing.”

“We’ve never sent the Feliner over to Arda,” Lion-O said.“We don’t know much about what goes on there.”

“According to Jaga, Arda used to be the home of one of his associates.They had powers, like he did.But it ended badly when one of them denied his request for help, just before Thundera exploded.”

“That isn’t much to go on,” Lion-O said, narrowing his eyes.“But you’ve been observing the planet.”

“I don’t know what to make of it,” Tygra said.“Look at this map.”He brought up a world map.Four continents scattered over the planet’socean, and Tygra zoomed in on the northern section of the central continent. “Large amounts of temporal energies are built up here,” He indicated a region bracketed by three mountain ranges.Red and orange false colors spotted it.“It spiked when the Starfleet signals stopped.”

“Do you think we should check it out?” Lion-O asked.

“What little we know of Arda, is that it’s a rather primitive planet,” Tygra said.“We might not want to get involved, especially with Starfleet involved.You said yourself that Mandora didn’t like it when you meddled with her work.”

Lion-O frowned.It wasn’t in his nature to not go to someone’s aid.“Then all we can do is sit and wait?” He said, indignantly.

“For now,” Tygra said.

 

 

Kitra wandered through the halls of the Cat’s Lair.It had been over a month since her and her brother’s birthday. 

Two days after that day, he returned, bedraggled, at their doorstep.He said nothing about where he had been or what he had been up to.Kit heard, in the days that followed, the horrible tapping noise of Kat bumping his head gently against the headboard of his bed.

Her heart was breaking.She was becoming desperate.

She opened the door to his room.He sat in the middle of the floor.His clothes lay in tatters on him.He was bleeding.

“By Jaga!” She exclaimed and ran to him.“What happened?” she demanded.

“I…I had an itch,” he said, slightly dazed.“Scratched it.Guess I overdid it, huh?”

“Kat…what is it?” she asked.“What will make you feel better?”

 

“I don’t know, sis,” Kat replied, sadly.“I just hope we find out before it’s too late.”

 

Adam Reid vowed never to visit Louisiana for as long as he lived.

He flew over a vast field of swamp land, trying to find a sign, any sign, of Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.But he had flown for nearly thirty hours, and saw no sign.No campgrounds, no artifacts, nor (morbidly enough) did he find any little hobbit bones. 

And the Marshland beneath him smelled putrid.

 

The nightmare he’d had last night probably didn’t help too much either.Instead of his godfather, Gandalf the Grey, plummeting into the abyss of Khazad-dûm along with the horrific Balrog, it was Adam himself.He’d made the plunge himself, along with his subordinate and friend, but in his dream, it was him against the demon of the Earth and fire.Down and down he plummeted, grabbing Gandalf’s sword, Glamdring, in the process.With his first strike against the demon he hit a vein of magma, which splattered up along its trajectory.Adam wasn’t himself, though, if he recalled.He seemed to have his wings, or what seemed to be his armor, but the wings…they were real.Yes, he was very much part raptor; even his hands were talons.With a thought, he stretched out with what he realized were his powers.Winds surrounded himself and the Balrog, feathers blown along.However, nothing would avail.He and the Balrog were going to land in the pool below, in sublimated, carbonated waters.Oh well, he figured, before he hit the waters and, subsequently woke up.At least the waters would be warm.

Recovering from the dream took a while.

 

He decided to give his armor a rest and survey the land below. As he landed, he began to sink.He panicked and thrashed about in the water and the water plants which offered no help whatsoever.“AH!” he spluttered, still in his armor.He shot back out of the water and scanned the swamp land for solid land.He found a small strip of ground that would support his weight.He undid his armor, and it collapsed into an oblate device around his middle.His SilverHawk armor was made from Númenórean technology, and invaluable.He made sure it was secure, as he rested for a moment and took his surroundings in.

“Huh,” He said to himself.“The internal map the armor downloaded showed the marshes as much smaller; maybe it’s growing.Maybe…maybe if the land is growing lower, it means that a tectonic rift is growing here.With all of the mountain ranges all around it, it makes sense.”Then he rolled his eyes.“Oh, god, I’m talking to myself.I think I’m missing Josh more than I thought.”

He walked along the natural causeway.He reactivated his armor, and brought its sensors online. 

“Okay,” he muttered.“We have…methane gas, with hints of neutral gasses.”He looked around and saw bright flickers of phosphorescent lights erupt around him.“What do you know,” he chuckled.“Swamp gas does light up.”He walked along a path his sensors prescribed for him, until the armor alerted him.

OTHERS DETECTED, the display read.

“What does that mean?” He said.He looked around, walked up to the edge of the water.

Several bodies floated in the water, still.Their flesh was sickly white, and their eyes were opaque, half-opened. 

“My god,” he breathed.“There’s thousands of them.”

The design of the armor indicated that the bodies were thousands of years old, somehow preserved in the waters of the Marshes.

“No…only the elves,” he said.“Whatever keeps them from dying is also keeping their bodies from decomposing.”

He plunged into the waters, fully armored.If he was protected against space, he reasoned, deep water would be no problem.

Deeper and deeper he sank, and more and more bodies flew by him.However, chalk-white necrotic elf flesh soon gave rise to partially dissolved bone.At the bottom, all that were left were pieces of seamless Númenórean armor.He picked up a helmet—

(WHO ARE YOU?)

Adam stood face to face with a necrotic face, what little of it was there, hung upon a rotten skull.It wore a Númenórean suit of armor.

I’m hallucinating, Adam thought. 

(You’re wearing SilverHawk Armor,) It said, its voice urgent. 

“I…I got it from Bed-Lama,” Adam said, quietly.“It was a gift.”

(Do you fight the Shadow?) The specter asked, urgently.

Adam stood up straight.“Yes.”

(The Dead do not forget. Take this!)It gave Adam a small badge, and disappeared.

A flash of light occurred as Adam received the badge, and suddenly, the green specter was gone.

But the badge in Adam’s gauntleted hand remained.

He arose from the waters, and climbed onto the firm ground.He felt exhausted.He examined the badge.It was in the shape of a tree, with two wings on its left and right sides.Classic Númenórean symbolism.

When examined with his armor, it recommended that Adam place it upon his buckle.When he did so, he got a message that new software was being downloaded.He smiled, then he looked down upon his right arm.New mechanisms upon his arm sprang up.

“What just happened?” Adam asked out loud.Continuing his slow walk southeast, he saw that only grasses and shrubs grew.He saw nothing larger than small lizards and insects.Nothing like alligators, herons, or other waterfowl.Or, if they were there, they were quite silent.

Nobody wants to play with me, Adam lamented.Not even the gators.

As he continued, he began to feel a warm wind against his exposed face.He saw a shadow glide along the water and the brush.He looked up.

Some sort of winged creature flew overhead.It looked to Adam like a dinosaur mishmash of brontosaurus neck, velociraptor claws, and pteranodon wings. 

“Is that thing the indigenous life form of this swamp?” he asked himself. 

He did not see the dark Shape bear down on him from above.

He went down easily, but the softness of the ground protected his head, which was hit roughly.Trying to shake it off, he looked up.

A cloaked, hooded figure stood over him.His arms were protected in steel gauntlets, and his feet were shod in similar boots with pointed tips.Adam couldn’t see the person’s face, but he did see the dark blade in its hand.He recognized the design.

 _Oh no_ , he thought. _A ring-wraith._

It silently brought the blade to bear, no more ready to discover what its prey was in its gunmetal-and-red Númenórean armor then it was willing to talk.

Adam began to shield his face with an arm, more an instinctual reaction, when the thought hit him.

_Leave it to a Starfleet officer to bring a phaser to a sword fight._

He pointed his arm at the Nazgûl.Instantly new mechanisms sprang from the forearm, encircling his fist, forming a complicated cone.He made a motion with his fist, and a burst of energy shot from the new device, striking the Nazgûl in the head, surprising it enough to give space between it and Adam.

However, it seemed to Adam that the shot simply passed through an empty hood, as if nothing at all was within.He sprang to his feet, and aimed his newly found arm cannon at the wraith.“Stay where you are!” he cried.“Put your weapon down, or I will fire again!”

The Nazgûl stepped back, more confused than anything else.When it regained its bearings, it charged again. 

Adam fired once again, but it did not stop the wraith.It merely rolled through the cloak again, revealing the inside of the cloak, but nothing within it.Adam took a defensive stance as it struck out with its blade. 

Sparks flew as Adam’s gauntlet met the blade.He struck out at it with a kick square in its chest.It was pushed back.With Adam’s other arm, he struck toward what seemed like the Nazgûl’s head.

It only connected with the fabric of the cloak, which collapsed as his arm tore through it.As it passed, the shape of the Nazgûl’s head formed again under the cloak.

 _How do I fight something that’s intangible?_ Adam thought frantically. 

“Jets on!” He exclaimed.“Maximum burn!”With that, he rose into the air, until the Nazgûl was a black spot in the pale green Marshes.

The time for exploring the Marshes was over, Adam resolved.He flew over the surface of the swamps, the wings of his armor unfurled.

His mind raced. _Why_ , he thought, mentally chastising himself. _Why didn’t I consider the possibility of running into Nazgûl?_

He flew high, until he could see the reflection of the milky sky overhead. From this height, the Marshes were indistinguishable from other noteworthy wetlands, including the Everglades on earth or the Shalla-non swamps on Andoria.With a little more imagination, Adam could see a boat with a fan engine skimming over the reeds and water weeds, with gators and a winged beast overhead.

 

_Huh?  
_

The winged beast overhead bore down on Adam, shrieking at a pitch which made Adam wince.With a thought, he willed his suit to drown it out.Not willing to shoot down a creature simply trying to get some dinner, he surged ahead, attempting to outfly it.

The creature continued to keep up, through complicated turns, updrafts, downdrafts, and dives.

 _Something’s not right_ , Adam thought, and maneuvered around to see the creature before him.

He now saw it from head-on, and saw that it was apparently domesticated.

By the Nazgûl.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, and doubled back, leaving the Nazgûl rider to wheel around.By this time, the Marshes were miles away, and the water gave way to gray rocks.Adam fired twin phaser beams from his shoulder-mounted units, grazing the ring wraith and its mount.His third shot, fired directly at the beast’s tail, was set to stun, and it seemed to do the trick, the creature struggling to keep aloft.Adam flew past it, unscathed, making good distance between himself and his enemy. The scream of the Nazgûl was terrible, causing Adam to break into a cold sweat in his armor.

However, he stopped following Adam as he entered into the Dagorlad plains.Not yet sporting the green of spring, it seemed to Adam as if he were traversing a sea of oatmeal, and he was back to where he started from.

The problem, he realized, was that he was encroaching upon Mordor itself.The only thing that lay in the way of flying over Mordor was the heavily fortified gates of the Morannon.The Black Gate.Adam was averse to flying right into Mordor.Regardless of his defenses, his presence there could have far-reaching consequences that would be devastating to Gondor, and, subsequently, the entire continent.

 _In other words, Reid, follow your own advice!_ He admonished himself.He insisted that Josh not fly about Rohan, lest he be seen by the Riders or villagers as a threat.

However, he thought, with a devious look in his eye, he said nothing about being covert.

He landed on the far east side of a high cliff overlooking the Black Gate.He scanned, and saw that the gate was composed of rather interesting alloys.Duranium braces with tritanium plating.The massive gates had enough of the two materials to cover nearly half of a ship the size of his _USS Hanson_ in hull plating.Because of the large amounts of dense duranium in the gates, there was no way Adam could sense anything beyond vague readings on the other side.There were no troops posted on his side of the gates.

However, he did see a contingent of troops, arriving in a narrow pass from the northeast.

The Rhûn, or the Easterlings, were, like most of the people inhabiting Middle-earth, could trace much of their ancestry from the Númenóreans.However, unlike the Nordic-looking Rohirrim, and the Romanesque Gondorians, the Easterling culture resembled the Ottomans, with their heavily lined eyes, red flowing uniforms, and bronze scimitars.However, the Easterlings chose to throw their lot with Sauron.

Adam saw them marching over towards the gate, and realized: There wouldn't be a better time.

He descended the cliff face, trying his best not to let crumbly rocks from attracting too much attention.He tried to face the gate directly, to get his best view of what lay ahead.As Adam hoped, the gate opened slowly.He crouched, and trained his sensors upon the crack that opened wider and wider before him.

Data streamed before him.All he needed was some more time, a few minutes….

“You there!”

Adam looked up.An Easterling soldier loomed before him.He brandished a long glaive-like spear at the Starfleet officer.

“Gondorian spy!” the soldier accused.Adam cursed inwardly; His armor bore a tree-like standard of the Númenóreans, which looked rather similar to the more willowy tree of Gondor.Not that an Easterling soldier could tell the difference.

He leaped up, dodging the soldier’s jab as he landed on an outcropping of rock above his hiding spot.The soldier was impressed, but was unfazed.

“How can you move so fast in such heavy armor?” he mused.

Adam didn’t allow him time to act any further.He dove for him, knocking the spear out of the way, and grabbing a handful of fabric from his uniform.After he did that, he brandished his arm cannon at the outcropping of rock and fired.A small explosion signaled a small rock slide, while Adam threw the piece of fabric and the soldier’s helmet into the rubble. Seemingly disarmed, the Easterling grabbed for his scimitar, but found that, not only that it was removed from his uniform, that it was folded over and thrown into the rubble, along with his quiver of arrows. He was defenseless.

Adam grabbed the Easterling along the waist, and activated his jets, flying them back up to a seemingly impregnable section of cliffs.

“What are you doing?” he cried.“My platoon will miss me before long; they’ll come looking for me!”

“No, they won’t,” Adam replied.“Your armor and weapons are in the rubble I made.They’ll believe you under it, and declare you dead.”

“Why are you doing this?” the Easterling asked.

“What’s your name?” Adam asked back.

“I’m Spearman Gaji, of the Seventh platoon of the Tenth Infantry,” he replied, defiantly.“I need not tell you any more.”

This was a professional soldier, Adam decided, giving only his name and numbers.But he continued on: “How long have you been deployed in the Morannon?” he asked.

“I am Spearman Gaji, of the Seventh platoon of the Tenth—”

“All right, I get it,” Adam grumbled.“Well, let’s go.”

“Where are you taking me?” Gaji demanded.

Adam stood him up, and cuffed his wrists behind his back.“I am Lieutenant Commander Adam T. Reid, acting first officer of the _Starship Hanson_ , registry NCC-42216, serial number gamma-gamma-555-1982-sierra-jerry-bravo.”At Gaji’s puzzled look, he retorted, “Two can play this game.”

With that, he grabbed Gaji and flew off, to the terror of the Easterling.Even though he flailed and flopped about, no mean feat in his weighty armor, Adam held on to him tightly.

“It’s not so bad at this height, is it?” Adam noted, speaking of the Ash mountains.“It’s actually kind of beautiful, in a raw sort of way.”

“Put me down!” Gaji demanded.

“Ohh,” Adam said, “We’re in no position to make demands, Spearman Gaji.Just relax and enjoy the ride.”

“Where are you taking me?” Gaji asked again.

Adam made a loose, wheeling turn, not really going anywhere.“I haven’t decided yet.See, I could drop you off in Minas Tirith, where you might survive, if you give more than your name and rank.I could drop you off as far as Rohan, and I don't think you’d fit in too well there.Maybe on a peak in the Misty Mountains.Or,” He said, stepping down his altitude, “We could go set down, and we’ll talk.As if you’re not a spearman, and I’m not a Starfleet officer.”

“Please!” Gaji pleaded.“I will do what you ask!Just get me onto the ground!”

“How long have you been deployed out of the Morannon?” Adam demanded.

“Three months! _Three months!_ ” Gaji exclaimed, while Adam began his landing descent.

He landed on a craggy bunch of rocks, and in the distance, the Ash Mountains could be seen, and beyond, Adam noticed for the first time the nearly continuous lava flows coming from Mount Doom.

“It’s like Kilauea,” Adam said absently as Gaji landed on his knees, nervously gasping for air.

“What?!” he gasped.

“It’s a volcano in the Hawaiian Islands,” Adam said.“It’s a beautiful tropical group of islands, created by volcanoes.The big island has three volcanoes, and Kilauea has been active for…centuries.It creates lava flows that makes the island grow bigger and bigger…” He stopped in mid sentence and looked to see that Gaji didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.

“We went there on vacation when I was twelve, okay?”He said tersely.“What am I going to do with—ah!I know!”

“What?” Gaji asked.

A pause.“I don’t know.”

“Please inform me when you do.”Gaji was silent for a moment, then said, “You’re not very good at this.I don’t know what a Star Fleet Officer is, but if I was under the sword of a Ranger of Ithilien, I would have talked by now.”

“The Rangers!” Adam exclaimed.“They’d be about around here.Any ideas where they’d be?”

“I don’t know,” Gaji said, with sarcasm.“Ithilien, perhaps?”

“No more lip outta you,” Adam said.“You.You almost sound like a normal person.Not exactly what we expect out of people who worship Sauron.”

“That is a gross misconception!” Gaji cried, indignant.“We worship the golden eye of the Sun, and the Silver Eye of the Moon.”

“You seem intelligent,” Adam said.“How did the Easterlings get involved with Sauron?”

“It was purely intended to be a entrepreneurial venture.Sauron wanted access to the Sea of Rhûn.He wanted to gain minerals that are in its waters.”Gaji sat back down.“Before Sauron, we were a people of artisans and merchants.We traded with the Dunedain spices, exotic fabrics, and jewels that not even the men of the mountains could create.We shared our food, our music, our entire life to them.In return, the Dunedain gave us illness and dishonor.They believed themselves better, but could not come up with a single reason why!Well, that’s what they say back home.”

Adam nodded.“Go on.”

“Eventually, we severed all ties with them, and our grudge became bitter.Sauron came, offering us power over Gondor, and gave us gifts of weaponry and strength.In return, we gave up many settlements around our Sea.”Gaji looked away.“I was told that it used to look very beautiful.”

“It sounds as if your people was tricked,” Adam said.“Sauron is renowned for his deceptions.”

“We have pledged our service with our honor,” Gaji said.“Even I, in this moment of capture, cannot return, lest I be forced to kill myself in shame.My forefathers did not love Sauron, but they would not want this.”

“What did your family come from?” Adam asked.

“My family was one of the last of the merchant kings,” Gaji explained.“Even though we’d entered into…agreement with Sauron six hundred years ago, my Father lived a life of opulence and wanted for nothing.When he inherited the estate after his father’s death, there was nothing left but destitution and servitude to the Red Eye.”

“Doesn’t sound like a very good job,” Adam said.“Maybe you should quit.”

“What are you doing here?” Gaji asked.“You aren’t a Ranger, you aren’t a man of Gondor—Where are you from?”

“Canton, Ohio,” Adam replied.

“Why are you here?” Gaji demanded.

“Hey, I thought I was the one asking the questions here,” Adam snapped, not unkindly.“I’m here on behalf of the Grey Wizard.”

Gaji’s eyes widened.“I’ve heard of him!” he breathed.“We have no name for him; he’s never come to Rhûn.”

“Well, he’s my godfather,” Adam explained.“And I’m working toward the end of ending the conflict.”

Gaji eyed him suspiciously.“In order for a war to end, there must be a victor, and the vanquished.”

“Not necessarily,” Adam said, shaking his head.“But that lies far ahead.”

Gaji looked down at his soldier’s uniform and began to remove the pieces of armor.“I’m not going anywhere in Gondor dressed like the Enemy,” he said, firmly.“And certainly not with you.What do you look like under that, anyway?”

 

Adam nodded, and Gaji saw as the Terran’s armor pulled away, disappearing from sight until a man of average height stood before him.He was dressed in a black, tight-fitting suit with a swath of color that matched Gaji’s own sash.Two solid gold disks were positioned by his neck, with a black one beside them.He wore a badge resembling an arrowhead in front of his heart. Gaji looked up at his face, which was rounded yet firm. His eyes were dark, deep midnight blue.

Adam began to rummage through his pack.“I’ve got some extra clothes if you want,” he offered.“If you want to trade a bit.” 

Gaji placed a short hauberk over his loose-fitting coveralls and a green tunic over that.He was given a brown cloak and brown leather bracers to replace his Easterling gauntlets.Adam himself similarly put on the garb of the Rangers, not so much to pose as one, but because their colors provided better camouflage.

“I don’t have Ranger boots for you,” he said to Gaji, referring to his upturned, slightly pointed boots.“We’ll have to make do.”

“Very well,”Gaji said, looking at himself.“I did not think that I would defy Sauron so openly.”

“What does that mean?” Adam asked.

“There has long been a deep resistance movement back in Rhûn,” Gaji said.“My father founded it, and there are several cells.However, when we were called to mobilize, the resistance floundered.If Sauron is defeated, however, they would surely take power in the East.”

“If we could convince them to sabotage the Easterling war machine at the right time, then your loss of life would be much less,” Adam reasoned.“Sauron would have to depend more on his orcs.Even though he can mass produce them, they’re not as accurate or as intelligent.”

“As you say, that path lay far ahead,” Gaji said.“Come!We don’t want to be captured by the Rangers any more than the Easterlings…or the Haradrim.”

Haradrim? Adam thought as they began their journey south.

 

Zanie walked through the trees, looking out for the caravan of Haradrim, carried on three mûmakil.

 _His_ mûmakil.

In Umbarhaven, where he lived, he was known as the ‘tamer of the untamable’.He had found a herd of wild mûmakil on the savannas of South Harad and tamed them sufficiently as to place them in his seasonal shows.He routinely populated zoos and circuses with his bounty.Like a hunter, he kept track of his record; however, he never killed for sport, because he loved the animals of the wild.He held a gift; a gift carried over from his ancestors, a the Black Númenóreans.While others of his clan lived modestly or were pirating Corsairs, he lived a live of adventure and danger.He feared not the Mûmakil, nor did he fear the giant scorpions of the desert

Devoid of their stingers and claws, they were quite a delicacy.

But the current regime in Umbarhaven had gone too far with their deal with the Eye of the East. They pledged precious soldiers and support in exchange for a grab at Gondor, the land that had subjugated their lands so long ago.Not that Zanie cared anything about that.He roamed where he wished, and he had to do so, to follow his herd.

He had ended up following the mûmakil hundreds of kilometers, scores of days, all the way to the threshold of Mordor, with green, uncluttered forests quite unlike the thick, tangled jungles south of Harad, where Narûk birds squawked and imitated other birds. 

No, he was far from home.

But he was determined to bring back what was stolen from him,

It didn’t matter, not even if he had to tame this newfound land himself.

 

After all, he was Zanie, the tamer of the untamable.


	3. Angel's Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam and Gaji run afoul of Faramir and his Rangers.

Faramir had seen two men fly.

One had traveled west, on a sun-bright streak of light.The other unfurled wings of silver and flew east.He traveled up the Anduin, in search of those who had so lovingly interred his brother Boromir’s body into the river.In his hands was the horn of Gondor, which he had heard scant days before.Now it was torn in two.

Faramir needed answers.As the captain of the Rangers of Ithilien, he owed it to his father—Denethor, the Steward of Gondor—to know all he could.

He’d traveled far.Scores of miles from the Rangers’ base at Henneth Annûn.Between here and there, there were, perhaps five other Rangers on patrol, looking for any evidence that they could make sense from.Past the waterfall—On the foot of the Amon hen, there were nearly ten orc corpses.Like the two flying men, many fled west, while two alone made their way east, to the other side of the lake.It seemed clear that the parting of the first company was followed by the parting of the second, more intriguing pair.Faramir decided that there was a game afoot that he was not aware of, and it ate at him.From his association with the Grey Pilgrim, he had learned to appreciate the satisfaction of solving a mystery.“A wise man named Arthur Conan Doyle,” Gandalf told him once, “Postulated that once allunlikely possibilities are eliminated, the remaining possibility, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

The thought intrigued Faramir, and he incorporated it within his own wisdom.While his father denigrated it as mere guesswork, others were amazed at Faramir’s ability to track based solely on his ability to deduce.The mind was the greatest weapon, he thought.A sharp weapon was always preferable.and knowledge was the whetstone.

Boromir’s death, after his summons to Rivendell by the urging of the Elf-lord, its purpose cryptic, at best.His death, after apparently joining a company moving east, and back to Gondor. Death at the hands of orcs that did not resemble those from Mordor.

“Boromir.What will I tell your widow and son?What shall I say to Goramar?” he muttered.Ceria, his sister-in-law.A bright, lovely woman who struggled to avoid the darkness that pervaded the family of the Stewards.And Goramar.A young man with his mother’s dark hair and his father’s firm chin and stony look. 

Who would tell him that his personal hero, his father, had been killed under mysterious circumstances?

Faramir walked along the Anduin and knew: _It would come to me.Father would not bother to tell him and Ceria would be too distraught in her own right to explain it properly.No.It will be me._

 

He made is way back south.There was nothing further to learn here.He saw from where the mysterious two went east that they would traverse rather difficult terrain before becoming entrenched in the Marshes before Dagorlad.However, from that direction would one make their way to the Morannon.

 

Who would walk into Mordor willingly?

 

 

The mountain range forming the western wall of Mordor was hedged by small, tenacious woods, easily traversed and interspersed with clearings.If the sky wasn’t overcast (at best, it was overcast; the pall of Mordor seemed to hang over the region like cigar smoke) the woods would be quite lovely, Gaji thought.The Easterling man had been taken from his platoon by the most unusual man, a man who didn’t seem to come from anywhere Gaji was familiar with.The man wore a suit of armor which seemed to compact itself into a small buckle.That sort of armor was rumored of the ancient knights of old Númenor, long passed in antiquity.His name was Adam Reid the Third, son of Thomas, a Lieutenant of the Star Fleet.

But he was from Ohio, not Gondor.And he was very odd.

Gaji had never seen such deep, dark eyes on a man before.Looking at Adam’s eyes was akin to looking out into the night sky, in the black between the stars.Gaji thought he could look into the eyes and travel through the sky forever. 

Gaji also took note of Adam’s intuition.He reacted as if he knew exactly how the Easterling felt, as he felt it.Gaji was reminded of his older brother, Nang, who protected him whenever the orcs went into Na-Rhûn, demanding provisions, as was part of their agreement with Sauron.While Gaji was always able to defend himself, it was against the law, per Sauron’s instructions, to raise a hand against an Orc unless one was a soldier or an official.Civilians were left to the ugly creatures’ dark whims.One was wise to keep away.Always.

He looked down at himself, walking through the trees.He wore green, perhaps for the first time since he was indoctrinated into the army.The garb of the Rangers, he wore it to keep from being shot on sight.Adam was similarly dressed.

“So there hasn’t been any deployments by the Easterlings to invade Osgiliath,” Adam said to Gaji.

“No,” Gaji replied.“Too costly.Orcs would be much easier to get through via Cirith Ungol to Minas Morgul to Osgiliath.”

“That’s not far from here,” Adam said, apprehensively.“We should be careful.”

“Orcs are simple to bring down, the brutes,” Gaji sniffed.“They aren’t always bred with a proper sense of self-preservation, too interested in their carnage.”

“What about the Haradrim?” Adam asked.“They have a long ways to go to get up here.”

“They traverse their desert and from bases far south of Mordor.They arrive on caravans of creatures called mûmakil,” Gaji said.At Adam’s slightly confused look, the Easterling explained, “They are great creatures, large as houses, with leathery skin, great long tusks, and a serpent-like nose.”

“Sounds like elephants,” Adam mused.“Sounds like a blitz tactic.Three separate armies converging to Osgiliath and Minas Tirith—Sauron wants to take Gondor out once and for all.”

Gaji nodded.“Without Gondor’s vigilance, the west of Middle-earth would surely be overrun.”

Adam froze.“We’re not alone,” he said to Gaji.“I sense three others close by.”

“How—” Gaji began, but was roughly hushed by Adam.

“Shh!No time to explain!’Adam had, in fact, sensed the tense emotions of three others for the last hour, but he wasn’t sure what to divulge about himself to the Easterling.His Betazoid empathic sense might be too much.

“Take this!” Adam said, giving a dagger to Gaji.Gaji didn’t have time to admire the ancient Númenórean craft work, but held it out at the ready.Adam looked down to make sure that his own sword, given to him by Galadriel, was secure.

The two crouched low in a thick cluster of waxy evergreen bushes, strong with a pine odor.Adam focused on what he sensed.Anxiety—Apprehension, they felt.Had they been spotted?

No, wait, Adam thought.one of the three were coming in very close—directly behind.Too fast! he frantically thought, as he grabbed Gaji and hissed, “Run!”

The two flew from the bushes, and into two sets of waiting arms.Adam struggled with them, attempted to activate his armor, but it was in vain.The Ranger had struck him in the right place on his head, and he had blacked out.Gaji went down soon after.

 

 

 

 

When Adam came to, he felt groggy, like his brains had exploded from his skull, and had been improperly placed back inside.He had a headache which spanned from his ears to the bridge of his nose.His vision was still a little blurry, but he saw Gaji, in a heap on the other side of the floor.He had been stripped down to his undergarments, and Adam saw that he himself had been stripped as well. 

His SilverHawk device had been confiscated.

“Armor up,” he said, with a woozy tone in his voice. _Doot, Doot_ , his armor buckle replied faintly.Adam could not see it, but it was relatively close by.A faint echo told him he was inside, possibly inside a cavern.

“When my men had set the trap,” a voice began from the far side of the room, “They had turkey in their sights.Look what they found instead.”

“Yeah, a real nice pair of turkeys,” Adam quipped. 

“Your timing for humor is off,” the man said, and he quickly came into focus for Adam.The man’s face was framed with shoulder-length ginger-brown hair, and a spare beard.His face was lined like a man who had lived far from home a while, and his eyes fairly blazed with fierce intelligence.

“I’ll tell you your name, if you tell me mine,” Adam said.“No, wait…”

“You’re in no position to make demands, stranger,” was the reply.“However.I am Faramir, Captain of Gondor, and leader of the Rangers of Ithilien.”

Adam’s eyes widened, but he said nothing of it.Faramir was the other son of the Steward, Denethor.Boromir had been killed upstream of the Anduin, and his funereal boat may have survived…

“Am I your prisoner?” Adam asked.

“I consider the Easterling man fair game.You, I am not sure.” Faramir looked at him with a scrutinous gaze.“You have a strange aspect, with your dark eyes and your unusual garb and…artifacts”

“I’m Lieutenant Commander Adam T. Reid, acting first officer of the Federation _Starship Hanson_ , registry NCC-42216, serial number gamma-gamma-555-1982-sierra-jerry-bravo.”

“I see,” Faramir said, his face betraying nothing.“You’re a long way from home, Commander.”

Adam found he had no cover to offer; Faramir appeared to have a knowledge of Starfleet!“Long way from where, Captain?” he fished.

“Someone once told me that many officers in the Star Fleet come from the third world around the star we call Nessä but you would call…Sol.”

“Gandalf,” Adam said. 

“Gandalf, yes,” Faramir said.“And your last name is Reid.The last time I spoke with him that name was told to me.It comes together.”

“I’m on my way to Osgiliath with my companion, Gaji,” Adam said, indicating the Easterling, still unconscious.“He’s a defected Easterling soldier with vital tactical information.”

“Doubtless, it’s nothing we don’t already know, considering his rank; spearmen are rarely told high secrets of state,” Faramir said, dismissively.“Why do you travel to Osgiliath?”

Adam said nothing.Trust was something that Faramir emanated little of, and Adam felt the same.

“An Easterling spearman and a Starfleet officer travel through Ithilien to Osgiliath.My brother’s funeral boat passes through the Anduin from the Rauros.A company is torn asunder along the shores of the Nen Hithoel.Two strange men with the gift of flight go off in opposite directions on the rock of Tol Brandir…”

Adam froze.He had been seen!He and Joshua both.He took a more impudent tactic.“I’m sorry.Under the guidelines of the Prime Directive, I can’t divulge anything more.It’s bad enough that you know about Starfleet.”

“What stake would Starfleet have in Arda?” Faramir asked.“From maps that I have ascertained, this star is well within the bounds of your Federation, far enough from the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire to be of no tactical advantage.We possess no comparable knowledge of how to traverse the stars…unless…”

“Are you letting me go or not?” Adam demanded.

“As a captain of Gondor, I usually demand respect,” Faramir said.“I don’t really have a reason to distrust you.But the Easterling, on the other hand…he is an enemy of Gondor.”

“I vouch for him!” Adam exclaimed.“I was the one that took him from his platoon outside the Black Gate—I took him against his will, but—”

That shot a spike of interest into Faramir.“The Black Gate!But that’s days away.How did you make such good time?”

Adam said nothing.

“Prime Directive,” Faramir muttered.“The Grey Pilgrim said that you would help us.”

“There are certain things I can’t explain,” Adam said.“Or not supposed to say.Do you know why there’s a Prime Directive?”

“So as to not directly interfere with the normal workings of a world,” Faramir replied.“Easy in thought; not so in practice, it would seem.”

“Gandalf walks in many worlds,” Adam attempted to explain.“Where I’m from, he’s a ranking person within Starfleet.He’s my superior.”

“Then you’re saying you’re a Wizard,” Faramir said.

“No!”Adam cried, becoming more frustrated, to Faramir’s growing amusement.He sat down beside Adam.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” he told Adam.“Gandalf is a Starfleet admiral.If you are Adam Reid the third, then you are his godson.”

“However do you know all of this?” Adam asked, becoming close to exasperated.

“Gandalf has given me tomes of knowledge, encouraging me to know as much about the universe as possible.Boromir did not take to it as much.He had other responsibilities.”

Adam stared at Faramir and realized: _He’s me.While I’ve been given book after book about Arda, this guy’s been given book after book about Earth._

“Okay, Captain of Gondor,” Adam started up again.“You know so much about Earth, what place would you like to _visit_?”

Faramir screwed up his eyes and thought.It seemed like several minutes before he replied, “The Millennium Gate.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Adam quipped.“Someone from Gondor wanting to see another tower.”

“I’ve also wished to visit Toronto,” Faramir added.

“Yet _another_ tower,” Adam noted.

“Seattle.”

“Tower,” Adam said, a wide smile smeared across his face.“What about San Francisco?Paris—hey, it’s got the _Eiffel_ tower—Canton, my hometown…”

“Gandalf mentioned it.”

“The Reid Complex,” Adam went on.“No Reid worth his salt can pass up mentioning the Complex.That’s where I learned to ride a horse.”

“Yes,” Faramir said, a faraway look in his eyes.“Whenever I could not sleep, I would look in the sky and find your star, and wonder what the people on the third planet were doing, and if there were any sleepless people there as well, looking for Anor.”

Adam looked at him, and nodded.“Sometimes, there were.”Another beat and he said, “We shouldn’t be at odds.We have too much in common.Let me prove myself and Gaji to you.Let us run with you and your Rangers for a time, and I guarantee we’ll gain each other’s trust.I owe it to you, and to him.”

“The Easterling is subordinate to you,” Faramir said.“He cannot leave this place without being blindfolded, and likewise upon his return, until I give the word of trust.You are in Henneth Annûn, and its purpose must be hidden from the Enemy.”

Faramir untied Adam.Adam had barely noticed the bindings of his wrists until they were undone, and the soreness of them made Adam wince.

“It’s, uh, sort of embarrassing,” Adam said, slightly sheepishly as he stood up on slightly wobbly feet.“Your men got the jump on us relatively easily.”

“Do you mind if I attempt to ask you more questions?” Faramir said. 

“I’ll try to answer as much as I can,” Adam replied, and the two walked over to the mouth of the cave, which opened into a mild waterfall. 

“Who was the other flyer?” Faramir asked.

“That was my subordinate, Lieutenant Reid,” Adam replied.

“Your kin?” Faramir asked.

“Long story.” Adam absently extended his arm into the waterfall, feeling the weight of the river dumping into a small pool below.“My turn.What’s the tactical situation of Gondor against Sauron?”

“Minas Tirith stands firm against siege,” Faramir replied.“Osgiliath, however, is another tale.”

“What do you mean?” Adam asked.

“The only people of Gondor in the city are soldiers, making a stand against the Shadow,” Faramir replied.“We have our advances, we have our retreats—in fact, before Boromir went off on his errand to Imladris, he led us on one of our greatest victories to date.”Faramir looked away, staring into the water.“Father was very proud.”

“Denethor, son of Ecthelion,” Adam said, absently.

Faramir looked at him.“You know of my lineage?”

Adam shrugged.“I know Minas Tirith like you know San Francisco.”

“San Francisco would be easier to defend,” Faramir said.“If Sauron’s forces attempted to enter San Francisco bay, I would man archers along the Golden Gate Bridge and place catapults atop Land’s End.”

Adam laughed.He nodded.“That’s one way, I guess.Where’s my clothes, and my buckle?”

“The buckle—that has the symbol of the Edain?” Faramir asked.

“It was a gift from Gandalf,” Adam said.“He gave it to me the day I went into Starfleet Academy.”Adam looked into the waters.“I…was so scared that first day.There I was, standing in the middle of the campus in the Presidio, and I didn’t have a clue where the dorms were, where the auditorium where the first years were to go, I was clueless.I was about to give up and ask an upperclassman for help when…this hand lands on my shoulder, and he says, ‘Cadet Reid, I would have thought you had memorized the map by now.’I turn around, and there was Gandalf, wearing an admiral’s uniform!He gave me the buckle, and told me that when I figure out what it was and how it worked, I would get around campus much better.”

Faramir walked over to a burlap bag, pulled the buckle out of Adam’s belongings and gave it to him.“What does it do?” He asked.

Adam placed the buckle on the waistband of his shorts.It attached itself instantly.“It took me a year,” Adam explained.“I took the device to all the archaeology professors, all the xeno-anthropology professors.The symbols, they said, were Númenórean in design.However, the materials came from a planet called Bed-Lama, not too far from here.The Bed-Lamans had just recently opened relations with the Federation, and they offered technology that they had been using for millennia.They called it ‘SilverHawk’ technology.”

Faramir’s attention perked at the mention of the term.“SilverHawk did you say?”

Adam nodded.“The evening after I got my second-year pip, Gandalf paid me a visit.He asked me what I had for him regarding the buckle.And I said this:

“ARMOR UP!”

Faramir saw as the buckle…expanded.Plates of gunmetal and red armor began to appear over Adam’s body, seemingly out of thin air.The chest plates bore the signature design of Númenor, and Gondor: That of a mighty tree, bestride by great wings. 

“WING IT!”Similarly, two wing-like flourishes extended from the helmet that appeared over his head, and two stubby, short triangle-like devices with a red circle in their center projected from his back.Faramir looked in awe as silver wings appeared out from the stubs, extending from one side of the cave to the other.

“Needless to say, I got extra credit,” Adam said.

“That is how you flew from Tol Brandir,” Faramir breathed. 

“Got me across campus pretty well too,” Adam said.“And Josh didn’t have to fly me around anymore.”

“Was this a ploy?” Faramir asked, with annoyance.“Do you have no intention of making good on our agreement?”

“That’s not my intention,” Adam said.“I’ll work with you.Eventually, we will be going to Minas Tirith, and I will want an audience with your father.”

“You could go.Now.You have enough armor and weaponry to fight your way out of here,” Faramir looked at him suspiciously.“Why would you stay?”

“Gondor is dying, Faramir,” Adam said.“You know how things really are, and I need to be with people with a realistic grasp of the situation around here.That’s you.”

“Why do you think I’m in Ithilien?” Faramir snarled.“He won’t listen to any of my warnings—only Boromir’s pandering, reassurances that everything is fine and that Gondor is strong.Gondor is _not_ strong.Oh, it _was_ —It was a mighty nation.But those are days long past when rulers did not dwell on past glories and history.Our borders could not be enforced, we would not speak to our neighbors.Arrogance.Arrogance and avarice made Gondor weak.”

Adam’s throat was dry.“Then…then you’re going to need all the help you can get when that big storm in the east comes through.”

Faramir looked down, then at Adam. “You will need to dress in the garb of my men. You will be known as Anborn amongst them. You would use your armor only in dire need.”

Adam nodded, and chuckled, “Where I come from, a Captain outranks a Commander.”

Faramir walked away, leaving Adam to consider what he was getting into.Faramir was a mix of emotions. Loyal to Gondor, but saddened to its decline.Desperate for his father’s affection, but resigned to the fact that he would always be second-best in Denethor’s eyes.And there was a friction between the two of them, Adam and Faramir, which Adam could not place his finger upon.Nevertheless, He had to do his part for Gandalf.He couldn’t be part of his godfather’s Fellowship, but he would make sure that he would help them—any way he can.That included the deceased and his survivors.

And who knows, Adam thought.He may meet Frodo after all.


	4. I Turn To You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh arrives in Meduseld just in time to see the Three Hunters (and a certain Wizard) come to free Théoden of his ailment. Éowyn receives Josh's protection from Grima.

Edoras was the Hill; Meduseld was the Golden Hall.In it dwelt, for many generations, the King of the Mark of Rohan.For the most part, the King was a fair, just ruler, though very seldom one of pure mercy.It was a hard land, and a hard people, and they worked very hard to make the lives they lived.

All except for Grima Wormtongue.

Grima walked out of his private chambers back to the King.He whispered into his ear, nearly caressing it with his ragged, chapped lips.“Beware, my King, of threats from the Stars,” he told Théoden, who looked blankly ahead.“A man, wearing black and maroon, will soon be here to take your sovereignty, to challenge you.Do not fail us.”

“…Will not fail,” Théoden repeated, as if from a dream.

Grima, satisfied of his work, returned back down the corridor, and walked past her room.Éowyn.The lovely niece of Théoden.And Grima wanted her.However, to say the least, he was not her type.He looked at her until she was aware of his presence and walked on.

Back in his chambers, he rummaged through his soiled shirts and trousers until he came across an old, moth-riddled garment and the badge attached. 

It was a Starfleet comm badge.He never was commissioned in Starfleet, but as an associate, he was given privileges there, considering his student body.

Grima hadn’t thought of his teaching days at SAGR in what seemed like an age.He got out a forgotten book with faces and names in it.His students.Kyle Garret.Kaker Al’n of Andor.Anthony Carr.Kavar of Tellar.Tam Elbrun of Betazed, Grima’s home planet.

And Joshua Maurice Reid-LeBeau.

All from another life ago.

And now, a Starfleet officer came now, for reasons unknown, incomprehensible. Grima feared the worst; that his sins would be laid bare and he would have to go to face the music.

He could not let that happen.

Too much was depending on him.His true employer counted on him, and their mutual venture on Arda was too close to critical to have Starfleet come in and knock it down in one fell swoop.

There were sacrifices, he knew.His family, he would never see again.His nephew, Lon, he would never get to know as an adult.His name would never be as it was at birth, Grimalon Suder.

No, Grimalon Suder was dead.

Long live Grima Wormtongue, the ruler of Rohan.

 

Josh, again, was glad to have a horse with him during the uncertain nights in Rohan, when orcs and the tribal Dunlendings were about.A little disturbance, a nicker from his companion, and Josh had the upper hand immediately.Needless to say, his first encampment towards Edoras was, to say the least, uneventful.

It was downright quiet, and even that disturbed Josh.

The next morning, he saw the great, mushroom shaped hill before the range of the White Mountains.Fréalaf knew where to go.Josh had to guide him very little to get to the gate.

In fact, that was how the guardsman knew he was here on behalf of Éomer.The guard, Beneth, Looked at Fréalaf, and then at Josh.“You bear a royal horse, stranger,” he said.

“I’m here on behalf of our long-lost friend,” Josh said, remembering what Éomer told him to say. 

“Tread carefully through Meduseld, friend stranger,” Beneth told Josh.“And beware the Worm that dwells there.”

“No doubt.” he left Fréalaf with Beneth, where the horse would be returned to his stable.

Josh walked through the buildings that orbited Meduseld.They were made of dark, unvarnished wood, while the Hall uphill was varnished and gilded.The colors which it was brightly painted reminded Josh of the ‘painted ladies’—Victorian homes down a famous street in San Francisco which were just as brightly decorated.However, as in the days in which those buildings were made, they were only made for those who had the prestige to do so.The contrast between the gilded roof of Meduseld and the thatched roofs of its servants was pointed. 

He got to the doors of the Hall, and a group of guards met him.“None shall enter without reason,” the Doorsguard, Háma, told him.

“I come here from the North.I bring news for the King and his advisor,” Josh said.

“Is it ill?” Háma asked.

“Can’t say,” Josh replied, shrugging.“Y’ain’t the king, an’ all.”

Háma shook his head and took another step away from the door, still blocking it with his wide-chested body.He looked at Josh and replied, “I would let you enter if not for fear.He poisons the King every day, and says that ill news is the cause, but I know better.What say you to that?”

“I say that Éomer sends his regards,” Josh replied.“And that the virtue of his sister is in peril”

Háma nodded and walked aside.“You can pass,” He told Josh, “But your fate is your own here afterward.”

Josh walked through the hall.Stone floors and stone walls, covered with musty tapestries, fell before him.The throne was occupied by a statue

—Or what seemed like one.His whole visage was that of a great, elderly king, carved in stone, and the illusion would be complete, save for his ice-blue eyes, eyes that Josh himself shared.They looked, however, out past him, past into nothingness.

“What the hell?” Josh muttered. “Is he dead?”

A figure in a dark, furry cloak slid from behind the throne, his back slightly arched with the weight of it, and he looked out toward Josh, still wearing his mail and Rider helmet.“What news from the north, Ranger?” he was asked.

Josh looked at the man.This was obviously Wormtongue, and it fit.To him, Wormtongue looked little more than a primitive in finery, looking uncomfortable in it.Nothing to his body movement suggested flexing or bending, when oozing and sliding seemed more apt.His hair was greasy, as was his lip.his eyes were wide and strange.His skin had a slightly yellow pallor; it suggested he suffered from jaundice.

“Speak!” Wormtongue said, impatiently.“Or has your long trip robbed you of your speech?”

Josh, mortified, found that he knew the face once it sat in the light.“I would speak to the King’s advisor…alone,” He said to him.“Professor.”

Wormtongue looked left and right, trying to get the guards to flank Josh, but the Starfleet officer was too fast, and before Grima could get a word out, he felt the butt of a phaser against his chest.

“I insist,” Josh growled.

Grima led him to an empty chamber, the room which once belonged to Théodred, the King’s slain son. He sat down on the featherbed which lay in the corner, stripped of linens.Josh closed the door. 

“It’s been a while, Professor Suder,” Josh said, casually, his phaser never leaving Grima’s chest.with his free hand, he pulled off his helmet, revealing his face to Grima.Though his hair was shorter, and he had some beard on his chin, Grima recognized him right away.

“Joshua Reid?” he exclaimed.“One of my old students!”

“Yeah, I’m touched as hell,” Josh said, bitterly.“What brings you to Arda?”

“Well,” Grima said, his voice shifting gears, “I was asked by Varria Leil Reid to travel to Arda because of her precognitive dreams. She believed that her ancestor, Lwakara Elanrun, crash landed here, and remained.I myself crashed near Isengard, and Saruman was so gracious enough to send me here to help these poor people.”

“Interesting, though,” Josh said to him, his eyes narrowed.“Interesting that Varria Reid died not too long after you disappeared.”

“Oh…did she?That’s a terrible shame, that,” Grima purred, attempting a pout.“Your friend…Adam, was it?was her grandson.”

“He was devastated,” Josh told Grima.“We all loved Grandma Varria.We didn’t understand why anyone would want to poison her.”

Grima shrugged.

“A mystery,” Josh continued, “Until we found out that several Leil family artifacts were missing.She was a daughter of the Third House, you know.”

“Well aware.”

“Keeper of the Rubies of Knowledge,” Josh said.

“Yes, I—I seem to recall,” Grima said, still shrugging, smiling.

“Heir to the tablets of Turnax,” Josh said, pointedly.“You know of the tablets, don’t you?Priceless Betazoid artifact telling of how your people could turn your powers from passive to aggressive.”

“That’s a myth,” Grima said.“We Betazoids can only receive the emotions of others, as well as our telepathic gifts.”

“That may be so, but not according to the Tablets of Turnax,” Josh said.“It was unable to be deciphered, as it was in an old dialect and the font incomprehensible.One would have to have great resources to figure out what it said.”

“I agree.”

“Give it up, Professor Suder,” Josh spat.“You were found out long ago.You were to do the errand for Varria in exchange for borrowing the Tablets.The deal went sour, and you decided to slip her a rare form of Klingon poison, one that’s only made from word-of-mouth knowledge. You then took the tablets, deciphered them, and came here, looking for the Elanrun treasure.”

“You always were too smart for your own good, Reid!”Grima snarled. 

“We thought you were dead, until now,” Josh said.“If Éomer wasn’t so articulate on what Wormtongue was able to do, I would have never made the connection.”

“Éomer will die.They all will,” Wormtongue said.“They can’t stop the storm that’s sweeping westward over this continent.It’s only a matter of time.”

“Saruman falls to Sauron, and you fall to Saruman,” Josh sneered.“It’s a vicious circle, ain’t it? De truth is,” Josh said, slipping into his Cajun patois, “You cain’t handle what you and he got yourself into.You might be sittin’ high on the hog now, but de day’ll come when it all crumbles from underneath you, and you ain’t got nothing to account for all your lyin’, cheatin’, stealin….and murderin’.Josh looked at him sadly.“And for what?What is it here that you can’t have in the Federation?No riches, no prestige…you were a respected Federation professor, Suder, and now look at you!”

“It’s the emotions,” Grima admitted.“They have such strong feelings, here, you see.”

“Emotions?”Josh said, confused.

“When I underwent the change, after utilizing the Tablets,” Grima explained, “I felt more and more the need to experience the emotions of others.It enhanced my Empathic powers, they needed to keep being used.”

“So you came here to get your jollies on other people’s feelings?” Josh said, disgustedly.

“You’re a human.What would you know about it?At first, feeding off of their hatred of me—oh, yes, I know they hate me—was enough, but soon, I had to create something stronger, more…potent.”

Josh saw that the more Suder spoke, the more unpleasant his eyes became.“When I made Éomund—Théoden’s brother in law—when I forced him to take his dagger and perform for me the ancient Japanese seppukku—-and he did it perfectly, to his credit—Oh.”Grima raised his head and closed his eyes, remembering.“His pain was so exquisitely great—I actually ejaculated.Twice.”

Josh’s face was that of horror.“You bastard.”

“And, so, you see,” Grima said, his eyes trained on Josh, “You won’t be a threat to me.You won’t interrupt Saruman’s plans.And Sauron will take over this mudball of a planet without any worries about you.”

Josh couldn’t think; he could only think to act. 

Brick Wall.

He visualized his thoughts guarded with a high gate of brick, with no opening at all.He concentrated.

“Brick wall,” he muttered as Grima smirked.

“That's an elementary mental shield,” He scorned Josh.“You never could erect anything better.Chalk it up to your lack of imagination or a lack of will.”Grima deftly penetrated the wall.

“No!Shields!”Josh’s mind tried harder to resist, now instead visualizing himself as a starship, and he brought up his deflectors.

Grima chuckled.“Better.But a starship’s shields have a nutonic frequency, and they, too, can be breached.”

Josh shuddered.He could not keep Grima out of his mind!His mind raced. Was there anything he could use to drive him out?

Yes.Of course!

A golden glow appeared around Josh’s head as he activated his biokinetic field.“A degree in invulnerability includes telepathic attack,” Josh told Grima, his head glowing like a light bulb in the dim, candlelit chamber.“Guess I should have thought about dat in y’class, neh?”

“Fine!” Grima spat.“What’s keeping you from getting out of Edoras alive, Joshua?I control these people like chess pieces.They kill who I say to kill, and they die when I tell them to die.”

“You know none of them are any match for my power,” Josh said, not boasting.“Besides, I’m not here to oust you, or anything like that.I’m here on special request for Éomer.”

“I had him banished, because he was on to me,” Grima said. 

“Yes, and he wants me to keep an eye on his sister for him,” Josh told Grima. “He doesn’t trust you with her, it seems.”

Grima looked away, confirming Josh’s statement. 

“Uh-huh,” Josh said.“That pretty much says it all.”He grabbed Grima by the lapels of his cloak and brought him to his feet.“Dis here’s how it works, ‘Wormtongue’.I stay here, an’ watch over de girl, and you don’t touch her or lay finger or eye or any other part of your nasty old body on her, you understan’?”

“Or?” Grima croaked.

“Or else I’m gonna forget I’m a Starfleet officer and a SAGR grad, and toss you down the hole I left in de Silvertine.The orcs might find you greasy and crunchy and tasty with ketchup.I _hope_.”

“Very well,” growled Grima.

“Oh,” Josh added, as he walked out into the corridor.“You’re lucky that it was me dealing with you and not Adam.He would’a shot you on sight.”

 

 

 

Éowyn only heard muffled words in the other room, but she wondered: Who was this strange man who appeared?How did he vex the Worm so?How was she to deal with him as well?

There was a knock on the door, and Éowyn looked behind her.She stood up, her chin raised, her eyes steeled with another mental battle with him—

Instead of Wormtongue there was a man, roughly her age, looking on her with concern. He was slightly shorter of a Man of the Mark; he had stocky, muscular arms and legs, and a broad chest. He had hair the color of gold leaf, and his eyes were a bright blue, the same color of her uncle.They crinkled at the edges, emanating calm and humor.

“You won’t need the knife,” He told her, and she looked down.She hadn’t realized she had the dagger in her hand the whole time.

“I, uh, just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to worry about that sleazebag anymore,” He told her.

 

She glared at Joshua, distrust staring him in the face.Éowyn was about Josh’s age, though her square jaw was set in a way that aged her further. Her hair was about the same color as her brother, indeed, she shared many of Éomer’s looks, but her femininity made them more comely than stern.She was tall and wiry, the cords in her neck taut.To Josh, she seemed cool, wary.

And utterly beautiful.He felt the same way, he recalled, the first time he met Cindy Belle Bordreaux, his would-be bride.

 

“Really?” she said, still glaring.“Perhaps I have more pressing concerns than avoiding snake venom today!” she snapped.“I have had to mourn a cousin, a brother and an uncle and King. Yours is but a shadow of comfort.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Josh said, putting up his hands.“Your brother sent me.He wants me to protect you against Wormtongue.Maybe you can help me break your Uncle of Worm’s spell.”

“You don’t _know_ anything, do you?” Éowyn said to him.“The King is defeated.He will do nothing but dry up and blow away in a foul wind.”

Josh looked at her and smiled in a way that caused her eyes to narrow.“You didn’t strike me as the type of lady that gives up too easily.”

Her eyes widened in defiance.“Who do you think you are to speak to me as if I were some…milkmaid?”

“Éomer seemed to be impressed that I’m a Starfleet officer,” Josh offered.“Ladies don’t always.”

“Starfleet,” she said, and looked at her hands.She smiled faintly.“Wormtongue talks in his sleep.He uses that word, ‘Starfleet’, as if it were his bane.If you are from Starfleet, then you must have subdued him.”She looked at him with a glint of trust.“Very well, sir.What is your plan?”

Josh shrugged.“For the moment, I’m just a babe in the wilderness, so to speak.My superior officer and friend is flying to Minas Tirith to learn the plans of Gondor in this coming conflict, and, to be honest, I’m sort of in the dark myself.”

“I hear nothing but ill news,” Éowyn admitted. 

“Lady, any news is helpful,” Josh told her.“Saruman from the northwest, the looming threat of Sauron in Mordor.All over something so seemingly innocent as a ring.”

Éowyn said nothing, but nodded. 

“I like Rohan,” Josh said.“Reminds me of the old Norse myths of Thor and Odin and great mead-houses and Vikings and all sorts of romantic barbarism.There’s a museum in Stockholm—that’s a city where I’m from—that has a replica of a Viking ship that takes up the whole floor and you can tour it, and there’s holographic recreations of pillaging and war and—”

Éowyn looked at him with confusion and a bit of amusement.

“Well, anything can be romanticized, given enough time and distance,” Josh admitted.“If it wasn’t too obvious before, I ain’t from around here.”

“No,” Éowyn said.“You’re not.”

Josh shrugged, attempted his bad Bogart impression as she got up to escort him back to his appointed room.“You know, Éowyn, this could be the beginnin’ of a beautiful friendship…”

Éowyn laughed, and Josh took heart. 

Then again, he thought, Cindy Belle laughed at his Bogie too.

 

 

 

Joshua woke up early the next morning.He left his mail shirt and cloak in his chamber, and walked down the corridor to the back of the Golden Hallin his trousers and undershirt.His phasers were still holstered at his hips. He walked past Théoden, still sitting in his throne, still a statue with icy eyes.Josh walked over to him, and snapped his fingers in front of his face.No response.Théoden’s eyes did not follow his finger as he moved it by them.Joshua’s brow furrowed, and looked around.The guards ignored him.He pulled out his tricorder and ran it over Théoden’s still form.“Still alive,” he murmured, “But just barely.Readings suggest coma or…severe fugue state.”He cursed.“Wish I had a medical tricorder, or a hypo of cordrazine, or something.”He shook his head, and made his way to the front doors.

Háma looked at him as he began to stretch.

“What are you doing?” He asked Joshua.

“Early to bed, early to rise,” Josh recited, “Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

“That’s fine, but what are you _doing_?”

“Don’t tell me you hale men of the Riddermark never heard of exercise?” Josh asked, smiling, bending backwards.

“Of course we do,” Háma shot back.“Of course, in the Riddermark, we call it ‘hard work.’”

Josh chuckled.“Touché,” Josh replied, and started his tai chi regimen.

Éowyn came out, wearing a white dress, with silver trim, and it flowed behind her in the breeze.She sighed and stared off into the rolling hills west of Edoras.She seemed rather stoic, Josh reckoned, just standing by herself like that.Ayn Rand would be proud.

“Good morning, Lady!”

Éowyn was startled for a moment until she saw Josh, on the Northern perch of Meduseld, moving his hands like clouds.She looked at him archly, and replied, “Perhaps your method of protection is to provide amusement and mimicry.”

“Where I come from,” Josh told her, “This is how we keep in shape.It’s called Tai Chi.Come here, let me show you.”

He had her stand in front of her while he instructed her on how to breathe, and how to move in the motions of the Chinese calisthenics.Within fifteen minutes, they were both moving their hands like clouds, and moving the tiger up and down the mountain.Éowyn smiled slightly, then stopped, as if remembering she wasn’t allowed.

“Théoden still will not stir,” she told Josh.“Wormtongue’s hold is as strong as ever.”

“I know,” Josh said.“It might not even be something that Grima can himself reverse.Maybe he’s caused Théoden brain damage, or worse, brain death.Just because he deciphered the Tablets of Turnax, doesn’t mean that he’s figured out their full meaning.”

“Please don’t say that!” Éowyn cried.“I must have some sort of hope to hold on to!”

“I’m sorry,” Josh said.“I didn’t mean to worry you.”He took the chamois from his belt and toweled off.“Hey, how about coming with me on the second part of my exercises?”

Éowyn answered a reluctant “All right?”, and Josh smiled widely.

“This is going to cheer you up.Is that dress pretty warm?”

Éowyn looked at him suspiciously.“What do you have in mind?”

Josh dug a pair of goggles out of his pocket.“I always keep a second pair, just in case.Here, put this over your eyes.”

Éowyn put the goggles over her eyes, and blinked comically, causing Joshua to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Éowyn demanded.

“I’m not making fun of you—It’s just that the image of the Lady of Rohan in goggles is kind of…interesting.Now…do you trust me?”

Éowyn didn’t look totally trusting.“You still haven’t told me what you have in mind.”

“It’s a surprise.I just need to be able to hold you tight, because we’ll be going rather fast.”

He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist.She reacted with shock, and Háma looked at him suspiciously.

“What do you think you’re _doing_?” she demanded.

“Do you trust me?” He asked again.

“Fine!I’ll trust you!” She exclaimed.“You have your arms around me, you have me wear these strange eyepieces, and…OH!”

 

Before Éowyn could even think, she found herself high above Meduseld, and beheld it getting smaller and smaller.She saw that Joshua did indeed have her tightly, and she grabbed onto his arms.His eyes, similarly clad in goggles, looked left and right, and Éowyn noticed that they began to level off. 

“We’re flying!” she exclaimed.

Joshua did a lap around Edoras, allowing Éowyn a view of her home that she never saw before.He then proceeded to zip along the breadth of the White mountains, pointing out the herds of mountain goats clinging to the rocks of the foothills.The Alpine mountains stood out clearly as Josh hung a right, ninety kilometers out from Edoras and swung north. 

“Where are you taking me?” Éowyn asked, hollering in the howl of the winds.

“Just around the block,” Josh said, casually.

His trajectory took them over smaller, though equally mountainous land, and Josh flew over a large, empty fort.“What’s that?” he asked Éowyn.

“That’s the refuge of Helm’s deep,” Éowyn replied.“It’s a shelter for dark times, against invaders, against ill weather…there are refuges built into the Glittering Caves for the women and children to stay in, and the fort in the Hornburg where the men take their stand.It is a defense of desperate measures,” she added.

“Hope it don’t come to dat,” Josh muttered.

Past Helm’s deep was a mountainous cul-de-sac, where the Whities met the Misties. 

“Nan Curunir,” Éowyn told him.“Beyond that lay Saruman.”

“I think we’ll steer clear of there,” Josh said, and changed course, due east.“You know the terrain pretty well,” he noted. 

“A woman can study a map just as well as a man,” Éowyn said, slightly defensive.

“No argument there,” Josh replied.

They touched back down, right in front of a spear-wielding Háma.Éowyn smiled, waved her hands down to placate the guard, while Josh put up his hands.

“It’s all right, chief.I was just giving the Lady the tour.”He walked up to Éowyn who put her hands on her hips.Josh added, puckishly, “You can be next, if you want.”

Háma smiled back.“Perhaps another time.Tell me,” he asked Josh, “Do all the peoples of Louisiana learn how to fly?”

“Not the way I can,” Josh admitted.“I’m pretty unique.”

“You’ve been given a mighty gift,” Háma told Josh.“I hope you do not squander it on flights through the countryside.”

Josh walked up to Háma and clapped him on the back.“You’re pretty wise, Háma.How about a drink after you get off duty?”

Before Háma could reply, Éowyn spied a group of horses coming toward Edoras.Josh got out his binoculars and looked.

“Group of four,” Josh told them. “Chestnut horse, two dark horses, and a white horse.His rider doesn’t use a saddle, and he’s dressed in white also.”

“Could it be Saruman himself?” Éowyn asked Josh.“Perhaps he spied us when we…!”

“I dunno.Better get you to safety,” Josh said, and escorted her back into Meduseld.

As he and Éowyn walked along the Hall, Wormtongue walked in front of them.“What is going on?” he asked them. 

“Looks like your man’s coming for a visit,” Josh said, holding Éowyn’s elbow.“I’m taking Éowyn to safety.”

“Peace!” Wormtongue said.“We know not what this news brings.Perhaps it is not ill.Would you not stay in the hall?You can protect her with your phasers just as easily as you could…hiding…alone…together…in your brother’s chamber,” he purred, directing his gaze toward Éowyn. 

Josh pushed Grima aside roughly.“That’s enough!” he growled.“One of us is the gentleman around here, and it isn’t you, so you can keep your little innuendoes to yourself!”

Josh was so bold as to walk right back outside, where Háma and his men were about to bar the door.“It is another Ranger, Joshua,” Háma told him.“He is with an Elf, a Dwarf, and an old man in white.”

“!” Josh’s heart leaped.“You’re going to let him in, right?” He asked.

“I cannot.Whether he’s himself or not, it’s still the King’s word,” Háma explained.“You may have no king to obey, but once Théoden has decreed, the discussion is at an end.”

Josh nodded.“I understand, Háma.But I’m sure that Théoden is not being served by your allegiance.”

Éowyn and Josh both looked on the four coming up Edoras.The Dwarf was stout and red-bearded.The Elf seemed to have gold hair, and his eyes were sharp, like a hawk’s.Then there was the Ranger, with dark hair, stringy at the tips, walking like a lion toward his prey.Josh knew it was Aragorn, right away.Adam’s description of him as“Aaron Strider” were very astute.All wore Elven cloaks, which gave them a warm, grey, monochromatic look, and welcome to Josh’s eyes.

And then there was the White Rider.

Josh didn’t have to guess one bit who it was.He looked in awe, as did Éowyn.Josh saw her looking at Aragorn, and he saw that look before.

“You know,” he told her, “I heard he’s over ninety years old,”

“I’m sure he is,” Éowyn said, casually.“Wizards are often elderly and learned.”

“Um,” Josh said, wickedly, “I meant the Ranger.”

Éowyn looked at him in disbelief.“Surely not.”

“He’s got a lot of pure blood of Númenor in him,” Josh told her.“They’re long-lived.”

Éowyn looked at Aragorn as he and his company checked their weapons with Háma, appraisingly. 

Josh, growing more and more bemused by her reaction, began to chant, “Éowyn’s got a boyyyyfriend, Éowyn’s got a boyyyfriend…”

“Be still!” she hissed, putting a hand to her giggling mouth.

It garnered the attention of the White Rider, who looked at Éowyn and Josh.Josh and he locked gazes immediately.His was not exactly of surprise, but certainly of approval.He winked at Joshua.

“We’re horrible, you know,” Josh said, chuckling.“Gandalf’s here, and we should really get in there to see him put things right.”

He took Éowyn and walked past the company.Aragorn looked at him with half-knowledge, as if he actually did have something in common with Adam’s rounder looks.Josh raised his brow up and down and flashed him the ‘peace’ sign, as he escorted Éowyn over to her uncle.As he did so, he looked at Wormtongue and gave him a smile as venomous as Grima’s.As he did so, he made a slashing motion to his neck.

Gandalf looked around the Hall and announced, walking to the midpoint of the long room, “The courtesy of your hall is somewhat lessened of late, Théoden son of Thengel.”

Now, only now did Théoden speak, but only as Wormtongue whispered in his ear.Josh could not hear.Éowyn looked at Josh, then at Théoden, and then her Uncle.

 

“Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Storm Crow?” Théoden asked, though it seemed he did not even see Gandalf.

“Very justly asked,” Wormtongue said, then slithered away from Théoden.“Late is the hour in which this wanderer chooses to return. Why indeed should we welcome you, Master Storm crow? Láthspell I name you, Ill-news; and ill news is an ill guest they say.”

“The wise speak only of what they know, Grimalon, son of Gálmod, son ofBetazed.A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.”

Josh continued to scan Théoden with his tricorder, running it over the King’s head as Éowyn looked on.Hold on, he thought, ignoring the interplay between Gandalf and Wormtongue.Ah-ha!

“Éowyn, I need you to look at your uncle’s neck for me,” Josh told her. 

Éowyn gave him a curious look, and asked, “Now?whatever for?”

“Dis little doohickey, giving me information about your uncle’s body that tells me something’s not right with his neck.Hurry!”

She gently felt around her uncle’s neck and gasped with distress.“Oh!”

Josh wasted no time.“What is it?”

“There is a protuberance on his neck, shaped like a star; a rash, a wound…?”

That was enough for Josh.He walked up to Gandalf, close enough that the Dwarf nearly drove him off, if not for Gandalf’s hand.Josh showed Gandalf the tricorderreading, and whispered, “On his neck.”

Gandalf nodded, and quietly replied, “Yes, thank you.”He then threw away his grey cloak and revealed a dazzling white outfit, glowing in the sunlight streaming into the Hall.He brought his staff to bear.

“His staff!You were told to confiscate his staff!” Grima screamed. 

In the back, Háma caught Josh’s gaze, and gave him a newly learned ‘thumbs up’ sign, and smiled.Josh grinned and returned it.

“Now, Théoden, son of Thengel, now will you hearken to me?” Gandalf asked the King, but the King began to convulse in his chair.

A voice, seeming to come deep inside of Théoden came from his now sneering face.“You will not have him!” a voice that was not his came from his form.Grima, now sprawled on the floor, looked on, seemingly helpless.Josh kept training his tricorder on the King, reading a biogenic carrier wave coming from Grima, which came from…

“Isengard!” Josh exclaimed.“Saruman is directly commandeering your uncle!”

Éowyn could do little but to put her hands to her mouth and look on, horrified, as Théoden’s face contorted into a wicked shape.“Yours is no victory!” he told them all.

Gandalf narrowed his eyes, and aimed his staff at the King.“You will not foul this hall any longer!”and with that motion, Théoden’s throne was pushed back to the wall,causing Éowyn to scream a bit and get out of the way.Josh took her under his arm, looking as helplessly as the rest in the Golden Hall.

“I believe the term is exorcism,” Josh told her.

“Do you ask for help?” Gandalf demanded.

Then, finally, Théoden screamed, and a darkness seemed to leave the shadows of the Hall.Grima fainted, facedown, on the floor.

Josh saw as Théoden slowly got up from his chair, as if he was indeed a statue which had come to life.He indeed seemed to transform, Josh saw, from a wizened, weakened old King, replaced with a vital, warm, aware man who had been asleep for a very long time.

Josh let Éowyn go to her uncle’s side, helping him halfway down the length of the hall, to face Gandalf.With every step, new vitality seemed to surge into him.His hair no longer gray, it was now a warm gray-blonde, and his eyes were still the same color as Josh’s, they were now very aware.

“I would ask that you leave your uncle’s side,” Gandalf told Éowyn.“I would care for him for a time.Joshua, if you please…?”

Josh nodded.“Come on.There’ll be time for you two to reunite soon enough.”

“No.There is still one more thing to take care of,” She said, looking down at Grima.

“Oh, I got this one.”

“I for my blade!” Éowyn snarled.

“Whoa, there, warrior princess!”Josh held her back, with difficulty.Éowyn was wiry, but strong.“I think he’s more useful to us alive,”He said to her as she surged forth again.“Besides, now that Théoden’s back, isn’t it really his call?”

“Very well,” Éowyn growled.“But when you throw him out of this Hall, you will make sure it hurts!”With that, she turned on her heel and left.

Josh threw her one of his mock salutes and called, “Yes, ma’am!”Then he looked down at Grima’s prone form and smiled.“You know, Tony and Kyle’s going to wish they were here right now to see _this_.They _hated_ your ass at SAGR.”

 

 

 

 

Outside of Edoras, a figure watched as the events unfolded.He saw that a small party of horses went out, then another horse hastily left, in the opposite direction.He was dressed in a suit of blue-and-green armor quite different from those of Rohan, or anywhere else on Arda for that manner.His face was covered in a nearly comically exaggerated blue mask, but his eyes were brown and keen.

“Thank God,” Leonardo sighed.“I thought I’d never get here!I hope I’m not too late!”


	5. Hard To Make A Stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua Maurice, in no short order,  
> -Attends a Funeral  
> -Feeds the King of Rohan,  
> -Escorts the White Lady to Helm's Deep  
> -Meets a new friend.

It was a funeral, and Joshua Reid, son of Belmont, was not exactly invited. 

 

Theodred was being interred, and several mourners gathered as the body, placed lovingly by fellow Riders into an earthy crypt, was wept over.The body was not embalmed; it was not the Rohirrim way.He would become one with the land sooner than later.Josh remained solemn but smiled inwardly at the thought. 

Eowyn sang at her cousin’s funeral.She was not a particularly gifted singer, but it was her place to sing the song. 

 

_An evil death has set forth the noble warrior_

_A song shall sing sorrowing minstrels_

_In Meduseld._

 

It was then that Josh felt like a base intruder.It was if he had seen Éowyn naked, because her grief was so exposed.Shame made him leave.

As he turned, he ran right into Théoden. 

“Sorry—”

“My apologies.”

Josh saw that it was the king and turned even deeper red.“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…shouldn’t be here.”

“This is not a private funeral.And yet you never met him!”

“I was supposed to.I wanted to show respect.”Josh was speaking the truth.“But then she sang her soul out and I just couldn’t….”

Théoden said nothing, but if Josh were to see, he would see that the King was moved.A stranger’s tears for his land and son.

“So, um, I’m going to go back and prepare you a meal, like I said I would, and hopefully, I haven’t lost as much face as it seems.”

 

***

 

When Josh arrived back in Meduseld, he sat and wept, to his own surprise.Perhaps it was fatigue, or maybe the surge of empathy for Éowyn, but out it came. 

It was Aragorn who found him.

Josh started at first when he saw the Dunedain, and hastily wiped his face, but Aragorn only smiled.

“Gandalf often says that not all tears are an evil.”

“How embarassing,” Josh muttered.

“Don’t be embarrassed.There’s a funeral going on, and there won’t be time for tears afterward; if you want to weep, now’s the time.”

“This is not how I expected to meet you,” Josh said, shaking his head, smile returning.

“You expected to meet me?”

“Adam told me about you,” Josh replied.“Adam Reid.”

“Yes.I expected to meet him first, but then things went a different path.”

Aragorn could have said a great many things about the fickleness of fate, or the strange things that had happened to both him and Josh, but wisdom told him that there was only one thing that Josh needed to hear.

“So…what’s for dinner?”

 

****

 

Josh would not remain seated at the dinner table in Meduseld as the food was presented to Aragorn, son of Arathorn, Gimli son of Gloin, and Legolas son of Thranduil.In fact, he looked over all their shoulders to make sure the plates were as he wished.Éomer, Éowyn, and the King of the Mark, Théoden, also sat at the table.

“Forgive me for intruding on your enthusiasm, friend, but I do believe I have a taster of food in my employ,” Théoden told Josh. 

“It’s sort of a tradition I’m developing here,” Josh explained.“I cooked for Cirdan at the Grey Havens, and for Barliman Butterbur in Bree.

“Did you really?” Aragorn remarked.

“Hey, you guys left him with a busted inn, it was the least I could do,” Josh said, quickly.“I didn’t really cook in Rivendell or Lothlorièn, but, then again, I wasn’t really hungry.”

“Your father cooks for his livelihood?” Théoden asked Josh.

“Yes, sir, he owns LeBeau’s on Rue Huit in N’awlins,” Josh said, drawling in his sometime Cajun accent. “We get competition from Sisko’s the next block over, but once you have both, you’ll never mistake Creole from Cajun in y’life!”

“Never came across New Orleans in my travels in Terra,” Aragorn said to Josh.“My loss.”

Josh shrugged, then turned to Gimli.“See, this here’s as close as you’re gonna get to jambalaya in Arda.Your rice is kind of different.And here, for your Cajun chicken caesar salad,” he said to Legolas, “I used those lembas wafers instead of croutons.they’re kinda filling, so I had to cube them real small-like…”

Legolas and Gimli looked at Gandalf as if he had let a toddler into their mist.

“I for one would enjoy your meal,” Théoden said.“But you keep interrupting!”

“You’re gonna have to forgive me,” Josh said, chastised.“I haven’t had much in the way of conversation in the last week since I split from Adam.” 

“From what you say, you and he caught up with us rather quickly,” Aragorn noted.“You reached Amon Hen surprisingly quickly after the Fellowship was broken.

“We flew,” Josh said, simply.

“Of course you flew, but even human legs would have to be no better than that of Men,” Gimli said, scoffing.

“No,” Éowyn said, pouring Théoden a cup of wine, “He _flew_.He was born with an extra quality.”

“And here, I thought your godson was exaggerating about his cousin,” Aragorn said to Gandalf.“You would do us great aid.”

“Well, that’s up to Gandalf,” Josh said.

“How is that?” Théoden asked.

Josh’s mouth opened, but found he did not know how to answer. 

Gandalf saved Josh some face.“His family and I have had dealings.He knows very few people other than myself on this table, other than secondhand tellings.”

Aragorn pressed forward: “How is Adam getting through Gondor?” he asked Josh.

“He’s using Silverhawk armor to fly there himself,” Josh replied.“His armor is Númenórean-based, and he’s hoping to enhance the armor by using their artifacts.He tried to get a hold of something called a Narsil, but Elrond refused him.He said it was for the heir of Isildur.”

Aragorn took a bite of his chicken, then used his finger bowl.“Adam failed to tell you who that was.”

Josh looked at Aragorn, enjoying his meal, and understood.“He’s the expert here.I’ve been a little out of my element.”

“You’ve done well thus far on your journey,” Gimli told Josh.“Our travails have been roundabout, and we have met all the same.”

“Joshua’s specialty in his service is his strategic prowess,” Gandalf said.“A studier of battles past, he can easily prepare for battles to come.”

“I get the feeling I’m getting drafted here,” Josh said, warily.“It’s one thing to hang out with you and all, but I never signed up for war.”

“War?” Théoden asked.“Who spoke of war?I cannot risk open war with Saruman.”

“Open war is upon you,whether you risk it or not” Aragorn told him. 

Théoden was about to rebuke the Ranger when Josh added, “I agree.With Grima sent back to Saruman, he’s going to be looking for a Final Solution.”

They watched Josh as they saw his mind in action.“Refugees have been pouring into Edoras. They’ve given reports of more and more orc incursions in Rohan.”

“They were attacked without warning, no provocation,” Éowyn said to her uncle.

“This is but a taste of what Saruman can do,” said Gandalf.

Joshua nodded.“This ain’t all what’s going on.It’s nothing more than drills.Orcs apparently can be created as easily as I make jambalaya.Adam was in Isengard.He saw firsthand the war machine he has going on there.There’s nothing stopping him from overrunning Rohan within the next day or two.And he will.This place isn’t secure enough for any of us to be here for another twelve hours, even.”

“What would you suggest, Joshua?” Théoden asked.

“I’ve seen your mountain refuge.Helm’s deep isn’t the best place for a last stand, but you’re already between a rock and a hard place.”

“Helm’s deep is several days away,” Aragorn told Josh.“Getting the women and babes to the caves would be a feat.”

“Not if we divert their attentions,” Éomer suggested. 

“Two separate caravans.One to lead the civilians,” Josh suggested.“And another to do battle with the raiding parties.”

“At what point do we part ways?” Éomer asked Josh.

“I dunno,” Josh replied.“Is there a more detailed map?”

“You are far from topological maps here, Joshua,” Gandalf suggested.“And holographic displays.”

“You’re right.I don’t have all the x’es and y’s to this equation,” he said, apologetically. 

“Then it’s settled,” Théoden said, his heart heavy.“We evacuate Edoras by dawn.Send the word to Erkenbrand the other Marshals of the Mark.Bring all to Helm’s deep!”

 

After Joshua and Théoden left to prepare, the Three Hunters—Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas— were alone to ponder their new potential ally.

“He is from Nessä, a star far flung from here?” Legolas said with disbelief. “Then Glorfindel was telling the whole truth.”

“That he is beyond the knowledge of an Elf is ponderous—and perhaps dangerous,” Gimli added.“These things he says, the things they say he can do…Aragorn, do ye trust him?”

“He is a Starfleet officer,” Aragorn replied, as if that was all Gimli needed to know.“Just as your kin out in the stars are.”

“I never speak of the fate of Fíli and Kíli, Dunedain!” Gimli growled.“And ‘Starfleet Officer’ has no meaning to me.Can you nae do better?”

“It is enough, Gimli that Aragorn trusts Joshua Maurice,” Legolas said.

“Two to one, I see.Well, all right!But if the things he says don’t start making sense, Me and the towhead will have to have a conversation!”

 

The evacuation of Edoras didn’t take long.Little was taken save for what was needed to cook and keep warm in the caves behind the Hornburg.

Josh whipped out his padd and began to compile an inventory list.Before him were several open trunks and bags.

“Hey, Háma!” he called out to the doors-guard, “Get over here for a second!”

Háma was a slightly heavyset man with a scrappy auburn beard.He was the doors-guard of Meduseld, and had come to befriend Josh.“Something wrong?” He asked.

“What’s the current count of people that we’re moving?” Josh asked.

“Seventy-five women and children are leaving from here, though more will join us as we head toward Helm’s Deep,” Háma reported.“From Edoras, there will be nearly a hundred men setting out.From there…” Háma shook his head.“Perhaps another three hundred.”

Joshua winced.“That’s not a lot, is it?”

Háma shrugged.“Perhaps not.”Josh spied Éowyn inspecting a sword, swinging it around. 

“Where is _your_ sword?” Háma asked.

“My sword?” Josh looked at him with amusement.

“I never had to check a weapon at the gate with you.Why is that?” Háma asked, with curiosity and some suspicion.

Josh whipped out one of his phasers. The Starfleet weapon filled Josh’s palm, and resembled a large, oblong shaped torch. “Yeah, you never did ask about these,” Josh said.“I never thought I’d be so glad to have one of these with me,” He showed it to Háma who shrugged.

“What is it?”

“Phaser,” Josh explained.“It stands for phased energy rectification.Basically, it’s a weapon that releases highly charged, focused energy toward a target, doing anything from stunning your opponent, to…”

Josh grabbed one of the nearby bags, and threw it up high into the air.He pointed the round butt of the phaser at the bag and fired.A high-pitched whine followed the beam, and Háma stared in awe as the bag disintegrated before his eyes, in midair.

From across the hall, Éowyn and Aragorn (and just about everyone else in Meduseld) stopped what they were doing and stared at Joshua.

Looking straight at Éowyn, he took the end of his phaser and blew.“A man’s gotta have his toys, you know.”

Aragorn walked over to Josh.“Have a care, Lieutenant Reid,” the Ranger told him, invoking his Starfleet rank.“We don’t want people panicking over phaser fire before we leave for the Hornburg.”

Josh’s chin raised up.“You think I’m being careless?” He asked.

“You yourself said you were out of your element,” Aragorn replied.“And if these people are going to follow you to Helm’s deep, they’re going to need to trust you.”

“You want me to lead them there?” Josh asked. 

“We need at least a few men escorting their wives and children to safety,” Aragorn explained.“You were not eager to join in the fray so quickly.It seemed the logical choice.”

Josh looked around, and then replied, “As a Starfleet officer, It’s my duty to ensure the safety of the civilians, not—and I must emphasize, _not_ —because the prospect of armed conflict makes me queasy.”

Aragorn was taken aback.“I didn’t mean—”

“I know.I just wanted to make that clear.I didn’t earn a black belt in three martial arts and kickboxing because I thought I’dbe joining any knittin’ circles.”

“But you’ll lead that group,” Aragorn said, smiling faintly.

“Of course.Who else is coming with me?Háma?”

“No, we need him if we’re going to ride back to the Fords of Isen,” Aragorn said.

“Well, what about Legolas?”

“He’s with us also,” Aragorn replied.

A pause.“The lil’ guy with the beard?” Josh ventured.

Aragorn laughed.“I have the utmost confidence that you will suffice.”

“Wait a minute,” Josh asked.“What about Gandalf?”

“Gandalf is riding out to rally more Riders,” Aragorn said.

Josh nodded.“How soon?”

“Within the hour,” Aragorn said.“More will join you as you go along. Erkenbrand will have people join you there. Have the escorts flank them on each side and a chase rider holding up the rear.”

“Okay,” Josh said.“Just one thing, though.”

“Of course,” Aragorn said.

“Don’t you have a girl waiting for you in Rivendell?” Josh asked.

Aragorn looked away, and absently touched the pendant around his chest.It was bright, almost luminescent.

“Just curious,” Josh said, and walked over to Éowyn.

 

“Are you disappointed?” Éowyn asked, archly as he gathered up another bag.

Josh frowned and shook his head.“No.Why do you ask?”

“All the others are going to battle, and you stay behind with us women,” Éowyn said, baiting.

“I don’t believe I’ve been released from my boon to Éomer,” Josh said.“And you’re a hard woman to keep track of.”

“So basically you’re leading us to keep an eye upon me,” She said.

“I don’t suppose you’d rather be riding out to the Fords of Isen,” Josh said.

Éowyn didn’t look at him right away.she looked at the sword that she’d just put down.

“You _do_!” Josh exclaimed.“Well, why not?A girl can kick ass just as well as a guy can.At least where I come from.”

“Really?” Éowyn asked. 

“Hell, my captain on the _Hanson’s_ a woman.Before the Hanson got trapped in time, she led us into battle.”

 

“They say a woman’s place is not anywhere but at home, to bear children and be protected,” Éowyn said.“It is different on your world?”

“It wasn’t too long ago,” Josh told her, “That females on my planet were forced in much of the same roles that you are.But there were always exceptions, and Women in power never proved to be anything but able.There were even women warriors, protecting their lands and their King.”

Éowyn looked at him skeptically.“I do believe you are merely patronizing me.Name me one.”

They walked out of the hall, to the stables.Servants behind them held the supplies in their trunks and bags.“Joan of Arc,” Josh said.

“Tell me about her,” Éowyn said, smiling.

“Joan was born in a land called France, and one day she heard a voice.The voice told her that she would go into battle and protect France from England.She went to the King and told him of her visions.The King believed her, and sent her into battle, and she fought and won.”

Éowyn looked at him in disbelief. 

“Of course, the downside of the story, is that after the war, the Church declared her a heretic and had her burned at the stake.Centuries later, the Church backpedaled and made her a saint.”

Éowyn made a face.“That was not as fair a tale as you had intended.”

Josh grinned.“No, I guess not.Let’s see.Um, Xena, Molly Pitcher, Amelia Earhart…uh…Rosie the Riveter…Sally Ride, Jessica Lynch, Shoshanna Johnson, Lily Sloan…Women, as the centuries wore on, became more and more aware of their own ability to do as their heartdesired.When it comes down to it, Éowyn,” He told her, loading up her saddle, “A woman’s place is with the people she loves.”

“You are not jesting,” She said, amazed. “You truly believe that.”

“It doesn’t matter if I believe it or not, or any other man,” Josh replied.“All that matters, Éowyn, is that _you_ believe it.”

 

 

 

The two groups set out as one.Théoden decided on a point which they would part ways, about ten kilometers from Meduseld, a specially hilly and alpine area.Josh rode alongside of Aragorn and Théoden, while Éowyn walked within the group, flanked by Háma and Legolas and Gimli

Josh stared out into the clear blue sky as they rode, and Théoden picked up on his melancholy.“Do you miss your home?” he asked.

“You know,” Josh replied, “I didn’t think I did.This started out simple enough, chasing after the Fellowship and making friends with Elves.But the prospects of going to war—Did you know that there has not been a fully fledged war that Earth has been a part of in over two hundred years?”

Aragorn, who was on Théoden’s other side, nodded.“It’s true.”

Théoden nodded.“Then you are a blessed people.”

“And the Romulan War didn't even come close to the damage that the Big One did to the Earth.That was the war that nearly wiped humanity out.We nearly rendered our planet uninhabitable, squabbling amongst ourselves.We didn’t recover for ten years, when Zefram Cochrane launched his ship.”

“You are a lover of history,” Théoden noted.

“History, yes,” Josh said, shaking his head.“History has the luxury of being at arm’s length of reality.”

“You are truly a student of Gandalf,” Théoden said.“His wisdom has rubbed off on you.”

“If you think I’m something, you should meet Adam,” Josh said.“He could pass for native here.”

 

They made camp at dusk.Josh lorded over his pot of stew, holding his spoon like a scepter.“No pigs, an’ no dieters either!” he roared to the Royal guardsmen he was charged to serve.Háma flashed him another newly-learned gesture, and others gave him the local variant.All jokes and rib-poking aside, they all eagerly took to Josh’s stew, made from one of Josh’s on-the-fly recipes.He had offered to help Éowyn with her batch, but she refused, being as stubborn as he found she was.He saw her take a bowl personally to Aragorn, and shook her head.“Girl’s first crush,” he muttered.

As Éowyn walked over to the Ranger, Gimli walked over to Josh’s line.Josh was puckish after trading barbs with the guardsmen and yelled, “An’ no line-jumpers, either!

“Y’know, lad,” Gimli retorted, “Unless you have an affinity with concocting poisons against orcs, I see no point for pride in your cooking.”

“Well, of course dwarves have no love for cooking,” Josh replied.“They settle for stone soup where they come from!”

Raucous laugher followed.Gimli harrumphed, and stomped off.Éowyn came soon after, a light in her eyes.“Joshua!” she cried.“Josh!”

“Hello, _chere_ ,” Josh said, still smiling.“Come to give some of my soup to the Ranger?”

She shook her head.“I didn’t believe you, but you were right!Aragorn is Dunedain, like you said.When my uncle told me he rode with my grandfather, I couldn’t do the figures, but…he told me.Although, you overshot.He’s only eighty-seven.”

“Oh, well, eighty- _seven_ ,” Josh grimaced, looking into the stew.“Yep, Aragorn gets around.He’s been to my planet a few times.”

“Really?He’s been to other worlds?”

“Yeah.According to my friend, Adam, He went to earth under the assumed name, Aaron Strider, and lived among the Amish people for a time.He also visited the fleet yards at Utopia Planitia—that’s at Mars—And he also befriended his grandfather, Hector Reid.That was back in the end of the last century, but he visited Adam himself when he was a child.He’s about our age…”

Éowyn wasn’t really paying attention at that point, but instead she watched Aragorn work back at his station at camp.He realized that Aragorn didn’t really need to encourage her infatuation with him.She would do so no matter what. 

 

Early the next morning, the group started moving again, into hilly territory. 

Legolas ran along side the convoy, and reported to Aragorn and the king, “There is darkness ahead. The Uruk-Hai lay in wait.”

Josh looked at him skeptically, then asked Aragorn, “How can he tell?”

“Elves have a sight that Men do not possess,” he answered.

That wasn’t enough for Josh.“I think we could do with some real numbers here,” he muttered, and had Aragorn take Fréalaf’s reins.“Be right back.”Before any of them could stop Josh, he was off his horse, and off into the air.

“He is acting foolishly,” Legolas said.“He will surely be seen by them!”

“Joshua Maurice did not get as far in his journey by acting foolish,” Aragorn said, calmly.

Théoden said nothing.He was still in shock at Josh’s takeoff.His mouth remained open until Josh returned, landing back upon Frèalaf.The royal horse, to his credit, did not spook when Josh landed, albeit lopsidedly, in the saddle.

“Riders!” he said, trying to catch his breath.“I saw about a half-dozen riders on mounts that looked like…ugh, nasty things…like giant hyenas.”

“What th’ devil is a hyena?” Gimli asked.

“Um……they looked like carnivores…shaggy…with snub noses, round ears, and they had razor sharp spikes down its spine.Uruk-Hai were riding them, coming from…north by northwest.”

“Wargs!” Aragorn said.“Now is the time.”

Josh rode along to the convoy of Mothers and sisters and daughters and sons that awaited him.He looked over to Éowyn, who looked at her Uncle with wanting in her eyes, and Josh wondered if, perhaps, he hadn’t made a poor situation worse.

“Please—I can fight!” Éowyn said.

“I need you to do this,” Théoden replied.“For me.”

Éowyn looked back at the frightened civilians, and then to Josh, who shrugged.She turned to her king and nodded.

As she walked back to Josh, her horse was presented to her, next to the Starfleet officer’s.He looked at her, apologetically, and told her:

“Well, you tried.”

“No,” Éowyn said.“He is right.One of us must get to Helm’s Deep first.”

“All right!” Josh hollered.“Make for the lower ground!” 

Éowyn’s eyes were inscrutable.“And stay together!”

 

 

Josh and Éowyn hastened the caravan low through the hills, making sure that the escorts of the accompanying parties scouted the tops from time to time.This they did for about two hours.Their trip was quiet, with the two concentrating on their speed.

“AHH!”

Josh looked up.A Rider fell down the hill, mangled.His blood smeared on the green grass of the hills.He called out to the group, “Riders and Men!Guard the civilians!”

They formed a tight circle around the women and children as they lowered their lances.Just like a herd of elephants on the savanna, Josh thought as he took out his phaser.Éowyn unsheathed the sword from its compartment on her saddle and held it with both hands.

Another rider, trying to out ride its pursuer, fell down a particularly steep hill, its horse landing on its back, crippled.Josh got a look at the Warg and its rider up close.His first impression of the predatory mount didn’t do it justice, with such details as its slobbery, dripping mouth and its red-lined eyes, trained directly at him.The rider was a particularly savage Uruk-Hai, clad only in leather strips and a loincloth, his body scarred heavily.

Over the hills, two other riders made their appearance, and Josh and Éowyn backed into the protective circle.

“If there’s any more than this,” Josh told her, “We’re in trouble.”

Five more warg-riders appeared from the other side of the dale.Éowyn looked at him as if he had caused their appearance with his idle words.“Our only concern are these women,” she said.

Josh nodded, and prepared to fire, but a strange motion above a particularly ugly Warg and its rider made him pause.It was the flash of steel.

And even before he could call out, a high-pitched swish noise greeted them.The Rider seemed oddly, almost comically surprised at the noise himself, even as his head rolled off his neck, dropped down into the dale, and lay right next to the dead Rider.

The other Warg-riders did not miss a beat. They jumped into the gully, landing deftly on padded feet below. With them, a flashing blue-and-green blur somersaulted down with them, and presented itself to all.He seemed to draw all the riders attention to himself, because they took no further action against Josh and Éowyn’s group.

Josh looked at the armor and made a face of confusion.The armor, he recognized, but it seemed out of place in Rohan, or Arda…or the twenty-fourth century for that matter.

“A samurai?” he breathed, and Éowyn looked at him, waiting for the call to arms.

“Joshua!We must aid him!” she cried, and soon galloped off toward the riders.

Josh blinked and stared for a moment, and then holstered his phaser and followed.

The samurai held his sword horizontally above his head, waiting for another rider to make a move.

Before one could, Éowyn swung her sword as her horse galloped past, leaving a great gash on one of the warg-riders as she passed by.The Samurai took notice at first, but then was greeted by a man with glowing hands, who grabbed the wounded rider, and threw him, nearly ten meters away.The warg snarled at the man, who combined his fists, still glowing yellow-orange, and batted at its snout.A yelp of pain escaped the beast, but it still stood its ground. 

“Here!” the samurai called out, and threw him one of his swords.Josh looked at it briefly, noting that it was indeed a Japanese katana blade, and that it had both Elvish and Japanese characters on its blade and hilt.Meanwhile, he felt the hot breath of the Warg, and was increasingly sure that its last meal had had a last name.Josh swiped the blade at the warg’s head, and was amazed to find that he had just penetrated its skull.The warg dropped immediately.

When Josh looked back up, he saw that the other Wargs had been dispatched as well, their riders killed.He shook his head in disbelief.How could the mystery samurai move so fast without so much as a swish of steel?He looked to Éowyn, who’s bewildered look told him he wasn’t alone in his confusion.

“I’ll want my sword back,” the samurai said to Josh.

Josh held it tight.He wanted answers.“It’s an interesting sword though,” He said.“The inscription—Tsunami—on the blade and hilt…”

Josh heard the smooth slide of steel out of its scabbard.“I don’t want to make an enemy out of an ally,” he told Josh.“Give the katana back now.”

“The steel reminds me of the sword that Master Kumamoto used when he taught me,” Josh continued, casually.Éowyn looked on in confusion; obviously there was some sort of commonality to the two men, but it was alien to her.

“He has proven himself a friend of Rohan!” she exclaimed.“Give him his blade.”

“This is Japanese steel.Maybe reforged here by elves, but wrought in ol’ Nippon.”

The samurai’s two swords clinked.In an instant, he assumed an offensive strike against Josh, but Josh counter-struck, the blades forming a silvery X before Éowyn.

“You’ve picked a really odd time to spar, friend,” the samurai told Josh.“I know what you’re doing.”

The two crossed their swords for another minute or two, though the Samurai seemed better matched.Josh was too slow, and he was forced to relinquish the sword or lose his fingers.The samurai took it, resheathed it, and bowed.Josh returned the bow.

“What’s your name, samurai?” Josh asked.

“You first,” the samurai answered.“I’ll assume you’re from Earth.”

“I’d assume the same of you too,” Josh replied.“I’m Lieutenant Joshua Reid of the Federation Starship _Hanson_.”

“Okay,” the samurai said, nodding.“Is she cool?”

“Her? Oh, yeah, she’s fine,” Josh said.

The samurai took off the blue face mask covering all but his eyes. He revealed a green, smooth, reptilian face with brown eyes and wide, flat teeth.“My name is Leonardo.”

“Large reptilian humanoid speaking in Terran vernacular and wearing feudal Japanese armor.Check.” Josh said.“You’re seeing dis, right, chere, because I want to make sure I’m not hallucinating.”

“You’re Cajun,” Leonardo noted.“I’ve met some Cajuns before, though the last one had more pointy teeth.”

“Yeah.Leonardo…hey!”Josh suddenly realized.“Leo—he’s the one that Galadriel told me about!” he said to Éowyn, whose nose was wrinkled at the sight of the Turtle.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Leo said to Éowyn, extending a three-fingered hand.She took it, gingerly, and smiled faintly.

“Hey, sorry about these guys,” Leo said to Josh, referring to the Warg-riders.“I tried to divert them from the other group I was following, and I sort of collided into you.They hit the other group really hard.”

“How hard?” Éowyn asked, concern creeping into her voice.

“Never mind that,” Josh said.“We have another few hours to go—see there?” Josh pointed to the mountainous shelf before them. “Helm’s Deep’s right there.We want to be there before dark, and definitely before that storm cloud hits.”

“Do you want me to come with?” Leo asked. 

“Hey, I’m not the leader of this wagon train,” Josh said, pointing to Éowyn.“It’s all her.”

Éowyn bit her lip and was silent a moment.Then, Finally:

“This will be very difficult to explain to Uncle.”


	6. Josh's Burly Brawl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battle of Helm's Deep--with a twist.

Helm’s Deep was an installation which was thousands of years old.It was believed to be built by the Númenóreans when they first arrived in Middle-earth.The first Section was called the Hornburg. It was the outer defense, a fortress, protected by two sets of walls and a overlooking tower of the Berg.Behind that was a narrow stretch of steep valley that led to the mouth of the Glittering Caves.There, was emergency chambers carved which supplied enough room for most of the villagers of Rohan to withstand anything, be it the harshness of winter or the relentlessness of orc hordes.

Josh hoped.

 

At the Great Gate of the Hornburg, he stood before the great iron door, next to Leonardo, a strange creature from Josh’s own home planet, and Éowyn, the White Lady of Rohan.It was reached by a narrow causeway above a fast-flowing, but narrow alpine stream.As they reached the gate, it opened, revealing a spacious court.Leonardo made certain that the blue mask that concealed his face was secure before he entered.Dozens of refugees sat along the outer wall with their children.But all came alive when they saw Éowyn.

“Popular girl,” Josh joked.

“We must make for the doors to the Burg tower,” Éowyn said.“Only one from the King’s party can open its doors.”

They passed through the outer court, and went within to the inner court, where a number of Riders stood up at Éowyn’s presence.

“Where is your Marshal?” Éowyn asked.“Éomer, Erkenbrand, or Gamling the Old?”

“Erkenbrand left us here to await the King, Lady,” a young Rider replied. 

“He and Gamling rode out to the Fords of Isen to draw the attention off of our caravan,” Josh replied.“We’re coming in with civilians from Edoras.”

“Who are you?” the Rider asked, warily.

“My name is Joshua Maurice Reid, and you can call me friend,” Josh said.“We must get her to the gates of the Burg to open its doors.”

“I _know_ the way,” Éowyn said, with a touch of indignation.“Follow me.”

Leo and Josh looked at each other with a knowing amusement and did so.

 

They reached the door, which had a different appearance from the walls of the inner and outer courts.The whole of the Burg, in fact had a more refined appearance.More…Josh wanted to think _modern_ fit it.

 

“Um, do you have the key?” Leo asked.

Josh could not find anything which indicated a latch or a knob.“How does it open?Does it require a password, like in Moria?”

“Here,” Éowyn said.She indicated a box-shaped molding on the right side of the door.

“You said that Númenóreans were advanced,” Leonardo suggested.“maybe this is some ancient keypad?”

Josh whipped out his tricorder.“Maybe.Éowyn, how does your Uncle open this door?”

“He taps at this box here four times,” she said.“It opens back.”

“There’s machinery here,” said Josh.“Yeah, it’s a combination lock. Four digits, if Éowyn’s correct.”

“Can you crack the code?” Leo asked. 

Josh bit his lip and tapped a bit on the tricorder.“It’s millennia-old technology.I’m surprised that the Rohirrim have managed to open it up for this long by just lucking upon the combination.”

“Lucky that they didn’t pry it open anyway,” Leo remarked.

“Keep that sword handy, we may have to,” said Josh. He exhaled as he heard the door latch move.“Ah.”

The doors opened, revealing a cool, musty smell.Joshua exchanged his tricorder for his palm beacon and took a step in.It was empty, but secure.He waved at Éowyn, who, in turn, had the people pile in.

Josh saw that there was an apparatus behind the doors that barred it from within.“The first person to enter the Hornburg controlled whoever came in with this,” said Josh. 

“It’s a bit of a maze,” Éowyn told them. “Getting inside the Hornburg is the easy part.”

She led them to the rear gate, slightly hidden from view.As the women filed past Josh, with sniffling children, he asked her, “Will you be okay getting them settled in?”

“Yes.It’s about another mile or so in,” she replied.

“Go. Leo and I will get this place ready for Théoden for when he arrives.” Éowyn looked at him quizzically and Josh explained, “I believe that Helm’s Deep holds a few mysteries that your people don’t know about.”

She exited the door.The two looked at each other. 

“What do you think this place is wired for?” asked Leo.

“Lights, for one,” said Josh, hopefully.He looked at his tricorder readings and nodded.“The light switches are hidden.”

“See one?”

Josh led him to a large central chamber.“I think this is the master situation chamber,” he told Leo.He opened a small molding, and it barely opened on ancient hinges.He pressed the switch, with difficulty, and the chamber lit up from narrow strips on the ceiling.

Leonardo whistled.“And they never even knew,” he said.“Look, they retrofitted the chamber for torches, and they needn’t have bothered.”

“The Rohirrim aren’t directly descended from Númenóreans,” Josh explained.“They seem native to the area.Then the Númenóreans moved on to Gondor, left Helm’s Deep behind…and I guess the Rohirrim scavenged it.”

“There’s another button next to the light switch,” said Leo.“What do you think?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” said Josh, and pressed it.

The chamber came alive.A station opened up from the ground, rising into position with a loud _Clank_.Monitors came alive and broke up into static as they activated along the sides of the chamber.Josh nodded and smiled.

“I wish I had Don with me,” Leonardo said, quietly.

Josh knelt down and examined the main console.“Who’s that?”

“My brother, Donnatello.He was the one that could put anything together.He’d be in seventh heaven by now.”

“So would Adam,” Josh replied, as he tapped at a few controls.“He’s the expert on the Númenóreans, and he told me that he was sure that there were Númenórean artifacts left over from their cataclysm thousands of years ago.Ah.”he stood up, and a few monitors cleared up, revealing the topography of the region.“Looks like Théoden’s party is just about to knock on the door…”

He pushed a button, and a monitor revealed a slightly bedraggled Théoden, Legolas and Gimli at the door.

“Guess we better go greet them,” Leo said.

“You stay here,” said Josh.I’d rather not have all the Rohirrim try to charge you after they take a look at your pretty old face.”

 

Josh strode out of the sit room, turning on light switches all the way to the opening chamber.He opened the gates with effort, but they soon parted to reveal Théoden.

“Welcome to Helm’s Deep,” said Josh with a smile. 

None at the door shared the smile.

Josh walked back as Théoden walked into the opening chamber with the Elf, the Dwarf, and Gamling, an older Rider.

“Where’s Éomer?” Josh asked.

“Éomer rides with Gandalf, gathering more Riders,” Théoden replied.He still looked rather forlorn.

“Where’s…Aragorn?” Josh asked.

“We’re unsure,” Théoden replied.“We fear the worst.”

Josh shook his head.“What a shame.Come on.I've taught Helm’s Deep a few new tricks you might be interested in.”

The other Riders began to take out blankets left out for them in the opening chamber, still streaming in, while Théoden, Legolas, and Gimli Followed Josh into the Sit Room.

“Where are the lights coming from?” Gimli asked.

“From a few thousand years ago,” Josh replied, cryptically. 

As they entered the room, Legolas’s eyes bulged slightly.“What is all this?”

“Here’s the security camera at the gate,” said Josh, pointing at one viewer.“Here’s a detailed sensor analysis of what’s coming at us from Isengard, and this,” Josh indicated another screen, indicating a rather detailed map with ancient Númenórean text,” Is the x’s and y’s of the equation.”

Gimli looked at Legolas and asked, “What did he say?”

Théoden looked wary.“How did you do this?”

“Sir, how many times have you actually set foot in the Hornburg?” Josh asked.

“Few,” Théoden admitted.

“It kept a few secrets.Now I want you to meet your new best friend, guys,” he gestured toward Leonardo.

“Your armor is Elf-make,” Legolas said.“Rivendell, by the look.”

“My name is Leonardo,” the Turtle said, turning around to them. 

“Orc!” Gimli cried, grabbing his ax.Leonardo put his hand on the handle of his katana.

“Nay!” Legolas exclaimed.“He is no creature I have seen, but he is no orc.No Orc could bear Elf-armor.”

“I’m an ally, if you’ll have me,” Leo said.

Théoden nodded.“All allies are welcome.”He found the chair in front of the console and sat down.“Where is my sister-daughter?”

“She’s in the caves,” said Josh, pressing another button, revealing Éowyn holding a baby, trying to soothe it.

“It’s quite a boon you’ve given me,” Théoden said.“Because if your numbers are correct, we are quite undermatched.”

“How many men?” Josh asked.

“We have nearly a thousand,” Théoden replied.

“Shit!” Josh cursed.

“What is it?” Leo asked.He walked over to the monitor that Josh was peering into.

“Look here,” said Josh, adjusting a large knob on the console.The screen displayed a large black mass of objects, as Josh zoomed out, revealing its steady march toward them.

Legolas frowned, reading the display below it.

Josh scoffed.“Yeah.That’s right.I checked it twice.These sensors are iron-clad reliable, and they say that nearly ten thousand are coming.Ten.Thousand.”

Leonardo looked at Josh, and shook his head.“Shit.”

“Bear in mind, that I’m including those who would be too old, and too young, if conditions were more ideal,” Théoden said.

“I’m going to see what else the Hornburg’s got up its sleeve,” Josh told them, in an attempt to reassure them.“See if there might be some weaponry still intact or defensive shields.”

For the next few hours, as storm clouds continued their crawl toward Helm’s Deep, Josh walked up and down the Hornburg and scanned along the walls for circuitry and conduit. In his search, he discovered something extraordinary about the building: It had no wires.The circuitry was created by natural metal veins in the rock of the Burg, and a complex neural net was created by the central console.He walked up to the second level, and found something promising.He cracked up another access hatch near the top of the berg, and pressed a few more buttons.

Devices started to move, within the wall of the main gate. Five large turrets rose up and clicked into position.Josh looked out of the narrow window and grinned.“Yahtzee!”With another switch, other machinery began to unfurl.More turrets appeared around at the top of the Berg, and Josh wiped his hands.“Not bad, homme, not bad,” he said to himself, and climbed back down.

Back in the Sit Room, Leonardo wheeled around from monitor to monitor, with Legolas supplying the translations.

“I do not understand many of these terms,” Legolas said, shaking his stately head.“This word—phase—does not seem to conjoin with this word—disruption…”

“Phase disruptor,” said Josh, striding into the chamber.“Similar to my phasers, but, if these readings are correct,” he indicated his tricorder, “A bit more powerful.”

“Good,” a raspy voice said from a far corner of the room.“We’ll need all the power you can supply.”

Josh turned around, and saw a raw face staring at him.“Aragorn!” he said, happily.“This is excellent.I guess you and Leonardo already met…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Leo said, shaking his head.

“Yes.Josh—”

“I’ve got some phaser turrets up and running, and I have some nominal shield plating on the outer walls,” Josh continued.“They won’t last under heavy fire, but they will buy time and energy.”

“Joshua—” Aragorn attempted to interrupt.

“Until Éomer returns, I think I’ve just offset our tactical advantage by a thousand manpower.Say, where’s Háma?”

Aragorn took Josh’s shoulder.“I’m sorry.He fought valiantly.”

Josh’s face went slack.“Oh, God.”

“I have questions for you, that Théoden thought wise not to ask.You seemed consummately intent on finishing your work.”

“There’s one thing,” said Josh.

“What is it?”

What the operation of this installation hinges upon is its power generator, and I haven’t been able to locate it.I don’t even know what kind of power all this draws from, but I need to know what condition they’re in,or there’s a chance that the phaser cannons will overload the whole thing, and we’re back to the Dark Ages.”

“Joshua, you were the first to enter Helm’s Deep?”Aragorn asked.

“Erkenbrand left a contingent of Men and refugees in the outer court, but he’d gone off to gather more men.Éowyn and I got here before Théoden, and we opened the Burg.Shortly after, Leo and I activated this Sit Room.”Josh stood closer to the Ranger and asked, “What do you have for us?”

 

“Our ranks have swelled to fifteen hundred, most of them farmers from the country and youngsters.We need the reinforcements.”

“I’m still looking for some sort of deflector system,” said Josh.“If I can get that online, we’re golden.”

“Eh?” Legolas queried.

“As in, ‘sticks and stones won’t break these bones,” Leonardo said, knocking on the stone of the wall.

“The sea-kings did not stay here long,” Aragorn told Josh.“It is possible that many needed things you seek have been removed long ago.”

“I don’t even think we have hours,” said Josh.“I have to try.”

Another hour passed.Éowyn found Josh pacing around the Sit Room, cursing and shaking his head.

“This…is amazing,” Éowyn said. 

“Damn it!” Josh cursed.“Where is it?”

“Where is what?” Éowyn asked.

“I can’t find de goddamn generator!” Josh exclaimed.“I don’t even know how these things are lit up?”

Éowyn was at a loss.“Did you try…hitting that button?”She pointed to a close by control.

Josh rolled his eyes.“Yes…”

“That one?”

“Listen, lady, I’ve punched them all!Every combination, every single attempt at a diagnostic display has failed.I think I know how the Númenóreans died out.Lack of user manuals!”

“Here,” Éowyn pushed a button.

Josh looked at the screen in front of him.A schematic of the Hornburg appeared, revealing a structure fifty meters below the surface.He tapped a few more buttons.“ _Encroyable_ ,” He said.“The generator’s deep in the bedrock of the mountains.It creates power from Arda’s magnetic field.A virtually unlimited source of power and…He tapped a few more buttons and toggled a switch.“Everything seems to be in good shape!”

Éowyn looked at him, triumphantly.“Almighty Starfleet officer brought down…by a button.”

Josh got up out of the chair and took her hands.“Thank you, thank you, _merci boucoup_ ,” he said, lapsing into French.He began to kiss her hand.“ _Je t’aime, Je t’aime, Je t’aime_.”

“You are ridiculous,” Éowyn said, laughing.

“Unfortunately,” said Josh, with a sigh.“Aragorn was right, at least about the shield generator.The parts are missing.”

Éowyn was about to express her support when a buzzing noise filled the room.

 _Buzz-uzz, Buzz-uzz_ , it continued, through the halls and the courtyards of the Hornburg. 

Outside, by the Deeping Wall, Aragorn’s attention from a particularly young soldier was diverted by it.He hurried through the throng of Riders, taking up position along the Deeping wall and above the outer gate. 

He burst into the sit room, finding Leonardo and Josh scrambling at the controls, while Éowyn looked on.

“What does the alarm mean?” Aragorn asked.

“It means…” Josh began, looking at the screen.“Here, let me bring it up on the big screen.”

“Big screen?Oh!” Éowyn repeated, then looked behind her as a large schematic appeared behind her, startling her.she moved off, settling between Aragorn and Josh.

“Our ten thousand best friends are here,” said Josh, indicating the black mass at the top of the schematic.“But here, something has breached the perimeter,” He indicated a blue masswest of the center.

“More orcs?” Aragorn asked.

“No,” said Josh.“We did a bio-scan, and it’s definitely not orcs.The opposite of orcs, in fact.”

Text overlaid the sensor display, and Aragorn’s eyes popped, briefly before he ran for the gate.

“Open the gate!Open the gate!” He exclaimed, as Leo and Josh ran after him.

As the gates opened, rank after rank of blue-covered troops, all holding longbows, marched through to the outer court.Leonardo and Josh looked on as the lead trooper pulled back his hooded cloak.

“Haldir!” they exclaimed in unison.

“Three friends, allied in war, as the lady has seen,” Haldir said.To Aragorn he said, “The Lady of Lorien sends her regards.”

Théoden looked at them all, and said, “The Deeping Wall is the weakness in our defenses.If it is breached, then they can circumvent the outer gate to the Deeping Stream to the Caves.”

“Have your archers assemble along that wall,” Aragorn told Haldir. 

“Have Haldir meet with us in the Situation Room,” said Josh to Aragorn.“Before it’s too late.”

 

 

Josh and Leo stood before the assembled group of players in the sit room.

“Let’s begin,” Josh started.“Here is what we have.Two thousand Rohirrim within the Hornburg, Haldir’s elves along the Deeping Wall. I have determined that the Hornburg has a stable power source, but its phase disruptor cannons are untested.”

“The front line of Uruk-Hai would make a good test,” Gimli offered.

“That’s probably it, too.I’ve activated some ablative physical armor, but we don’t have deflector ability.Any questions?”

Haldir raised his hand.

“Yes?”

The Lórien Elf calmly asked, “Would you please tell me what it meant, what you said.”

“What part?” Josh asked, feeling redness rising in his cheeks.

“ _All_ of it,” said Haldir.

Aragorn took Haldir aside and began to speak to him in Elvish.However, Josh’s universal translator had picked up enough of it, over the last month, to work: “The Terran says that this tower has exceptional defenses, but they are untested, and ancient. They may or may notbe reliable.”

“Yes,” said Josh, slightly sarcastic.“That’s _exactly_ what I said.”

Aragorn and Haldir whipped around.

“Anyway,” Josh continued.“Here’s where the orcs are now.We have about a half-hour before they come over the horizon.”

“Longbows and broadswords,” Leonardo sighed.“Fifteen hundred Rohirrim, fifty Elves, and two lil’ mutants.”

“And a partridge in a pear tree,” Josh sighed.

As Josh got up, the _buzz-uzz_ alarm began again.Leonardo looked puzzled as he tapped at the perimeter control.“It looks like they’re a little early.They’re on the horizon line now.”

Josh, instantly, moved to the far monitoring station, and pressed a red button.“Battle stations!All hands to battle stations.This is not a drill!”

They all looked at Josh for a beat before he admonished, “Well? Don’t you know a call to arms when you hear one!To arms, to arms!”

Leonardo grabbed his katanas and followed Legolas, Haldir, and Gimli, who muttered, “Phase disruptors!Deflector shields!Cannae the lad speak Westron?”

Aragorn and Théoden remained.

“I’m going to remain in the Sit Room,” Josh told them.“Here—” He handed Aragorn a silver-and-gold horse.“This is a modified comm badge, that I lifted from Wormtongue.You can use this to communicate with me in here.I’ve reconfigured it to tap into the sit room controls or my own comm badge.”

“You will not fight?” asked Théoden, disappointment in his voice.

“I _am_ fighting, sir,” Josh countered.“In here, with the big guns.I will be your oracle.”

“Joshua is the only one who really understands how this room works,” Aragorn said in Josh’s defense. 

Théoden nodded.“I do understand.Also, he can check up on the safety of those in the Caves.But,” the King of the Mark noted with disappointment.“I would see you fly once more.”

“Once we get out of here,” Josh promised, “You will.”

 

Leonardo tried to look out into the sheets of rain.Water dripped down from his helmet, and down his chest plate, or _do_.He took the binoculars that Josh gave him and peered into them, and then he knew.

The true storm had come.

 

 

Aragorn had instructed for none to fire until his mark. He held Joshua’s phaser.He looked at the Elves to his left and to his right.Legolas was behind him, no doubt eyeballing the armada ahead. “Show them no mercy,” he told the elves in their language, “For you will receive none.”

 

Leonardo heard the gnashing of teeth, the horrible Black Tongue that the orcs spoke, and the rhythmic pounding of their spears into the ground.The others around him were unnerved, even the inscrutable Legolas. But not Leonardo.In the Turtle’s short lifetime, he had faced down similar odds.In fact, in the case of the hordes of Savanti Romero, it was nearly identical odds.That was the first time that Renet had stuck him and his brothers in time.This time…Leo was pretty much on his own, save for his new friends.

 

 

“Man,” said Leo, “Galion would have hated this.”

“You know Galion?” Legolas asked.

“Would someone tell me what’s happening?I can’t see a damned thing!” Gimli grumbled, trying to peer over a turret.

“You could sit on my shoulders,” Leo offered.Gimli grunted in disgust.He turned back to Legolas. “Galion was the first Elf I met.His friendship was hard-won.”

Legolas nodded.“He returned to the woodland realm, then.”

“Yes, unless he decided to stay in Lórien.”

“I did not decide to stay in Lórien,” a voice to Leonardo’s left said.

Leonardo’s jaw dropped.“Galion?!”

“Haldir was…persuasive.”Galion revealed himself under his hood.“But look!the first arrow has flown.”

Leonardo saw.A stray Rohirrim archer made the first strike, and it hit its mark true.However, it was accidental, which slightly stepped up the battle plan.

“HOLD!” Aragorn cried in Elvish.

In the Sit Room, Josh sat at the console and frowned, talking to Aragorn via his comm badge.“It’s okay, Aragorn,” said Josh.“It’s okay. Start with the Elves, and get those helms and shields up, because there’s going to be a—”

Josh saw a hail of arrows rise up from the snarling orc archers, brought to the fore.“—Response.Aragorn?”

“According to plan, Joshua,” said Aragorn through the comm system.

“This is it,” Josh said.“Nothing to do but to do it.”

 

Leonardo held his hands, armored with his _kote_ arm-guards, in front of his face as the rain of arrows continued.They struck at the plates of armor, denting its surface slowly but surely. 

“Ten thousand orcs, multiplied by fifty arrows apiece,” muttered Leo.“I don’t think we can dodge them all.”

In turn, Théoden told his men, “Give them a volley.”At his command, Another turn of arrows came from the outer walls of the Deep, raining down upon the slowly coagulating group of Uruk-Hai. 

“On my mark!” Aragorn cried at the Deeping Wall.Every single of the Elves’ longbows were taut, ready to fire in perfect unison.“Release arrows!”

As one, each and every one of their arrows hit their target through the mist of rain and the fog of war.The first line of orcs fell immediately.

“That’s great,” Josh said.“Only ninety-eight hundred to go.”

“He’s counting!” Gimli spluttered.“He’s counting too!”

 

However, the Uruks had crossbows to counter-attack.The more advanced weaponry hit their target with greater ease, though the brutish orcs required little skill. 

And the siege ladders were being put in place.

“Joshua, now would be the optimal time for those disruptor cannons,” Aragorn suggested.

“I’m beginning the activation sequence now,” Josh replied tersely, flipping switches and performing a improvised safety checklist.“If I overload these babies, I’ll be doing more harm to us than the Uruks could hope to.Meanwhile, try to fell those invaders.Bring out the blades.”

“Right.Swords!Swords!” Aragorn cried.Men of Rohan and Elves alike drew their swords while berserker Uruks with double-spiked swords swung over the parapets.Leonardo was already in motion, and his katanas sang out in the dark.Sparks from the iron blades illuminated the red gore which emanated from the juggernauts’ helmets as Leonardo systematically disarmed and dismembered his foes.

“Honorless dogs!” he cursed.“Worse than the Foot!”

“Whose foot?” Gimli asked, himself hacking away with his axes.

“Ninja clan back home.Led by our enemy, The Shredder.”Leonardo replied, between sword swings.Rain and dark, tin-based blood ran down his armor, leaving patina trails.

“Clear as mud,” Gimli grumbled.“Phase cannons!Ninja Clans!What goes on over on Earth, anyway?”

 

 

 

 

 

“Dunei’s daughter, right?” the Starfleet officer said to Buffi, as she sat at the comm station.“She’s told me you were mulling the possibility of completing your training as a cadet.Any truth to that?”

“She’d like me to talk to the Academy faculty board about my reinstatement,” Buffi confirmed. 

“According to our records, you stopped your studies under good terms,” The officer said, looking over a padd.“Good marks…you showed an aptitude for command.If you decide to return, you may want to consider it.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” Buffi replied.“When can I set up the meeting?”

“I’ll register your request right away, but it might be a few days before they can get together and talk to you,” The officer warned. 

“I understand,” Buffi said.“Thank you.”

The comm screen went blank, and Buffi’s expressive face went slack. 

She didn’t feel completely sure about the Academy.However, she knew that any strike out against complacency was a good one.Her mother and everyone else were right; she had to get up and do something with her life.Buffi could barely remember a time where she was upwardly mobile, on her way, and nothing could stop her.

What happened to that ambitious girl?

She was tired of blaming others, and tired of hanging onto the past.

Re-entering the Academy would be the break into the new.

 

She looked around her room.It felt like a guest room, though it held many of her belongings, kept by her mother.Her bedroom on Cain felt the same way.As though she were a stranger in her own life.She saw the various fashion dolls collected over the years in various traditional dress: Chinese, Vulcan, Klingon, Andorian.She picked up another doll, that she hadn’t really noticed.Possibly new, or added to the collection while she was away; a gift.It was the appearance of a tall, beautiful woman, slim, wearing a white dress, and a dark vest.At the doll’s side, was a quaint sword and scabbard.Buffi looked at it, approvingly, and placed it back on the dresser she found it upon. 

She slumped upon the bed, and glanced at the end table.A dark glass sphere adorned it, placed upon a silver display fork.Buffi hadn’t noticed it before.Now that she had, though, she found it difficult not to look away. 

“Huh,” she muttered.“That’s odd.Must be one of Dad’s treasures.”Buffi’s father was a far-flung archaeologist, more often than not out in the field.She lay prone upon the bed, gazing at the stone.“Wonder where he got it from?”Buffi wished she knew.Running more with her mother than her father, his work rarely rubbed off.But she couldn’t shake the feeling that, while she was staring into the dark crystal ball, it was staring right back.

 

“Guys, remember what I said about the main gate?” Josh warned Aragorn.“They’ve got tree trunks, and they’re pounding that gate.It’s locked, but that won’t keep them out! Is it reinforced?”

“It’s barred from the inside,” Aragorn replied. 

“Okay,” Josh said, then suggested, “Have Leonardo down by the main gate.When they come in, he can dispatch that first wave faster than the Rohirrim.That’s a fact.”

“Leonardo!” Aragorn cried.“Now is the time to draw swords together!

“ _Kujikenaikara_!” Leonardo exclaimed.“The twin Tsunami will never give up!”

“Andûril!Andûril for the Dunedain!” Aragorn replied, and both stood by the gate, ready.

The Gate burst open as Leonardo saw the concentric rings of a tree trunk coming toward him.He leaped up, impossibly high to Aragorn’s mind, and landed deftly uponthe makeshift battering ram.The Tsunami indeed flashed from Leo’s left and right hands, scoring hits in two necks.He charged down the trunk, disrupting the orcs’ measured motion, causing the trunk to fall to the stone court with a loud thunk.He took out three more ram-bearers, leaving two more for Aragorn and Andûril.He moved outside the gate, with a loud battlecry, not at all muffled behind his mask.

“Leonardo has dispatched six in as many minutes,” Legolas remarked, firing another arrow.

“Aye, and he would work to overtake our own counts,” Gimli replied.“Ere he win the contest by default of our lax watch, we must away to the Gate!”

 

Aragorn saw the work to circumvent the causeway.“Leonardo!Fall back!We must get to the wall to keep them from breaching the causeway!”

But the Turtle did not fall back.In fact, he pressed ever forward, into the melee.

“Aragorn, watch your flank!” Josh cried.“Ambush!”

Josh pressed another button, giving him cannon control.“Targeting, targeting,” He grumbled as Legolas and Gimli came to Aragorn’s aid.“Ah!” he said, happily. and turned the cannons left and right.“Here’s hopin’,” Josh said quietly.

The cannon turrets focused in on Joshua’s first target: a second battering ram intended for the inner gates.The cannon fire was fiery orange against the darkness of the night and rain.The tree trunk exploded in a hail of sparks and fire, scattering wood chips and dead orcs down to the Deeping Stream.

“YES!” Josh said, pumping his fist in minor victory.He scanned further through the rank and file of the Uruk-Hai and targeted a siege tower.He fired again, shattering it instantly.

“Ay- _yee_!” he whooped.“That one was from Númenor, ya punks!”

However, one orc had other plans.He ran through the causeway, evading Leonardo’s blades.He ran past the turtle, nearly twenty meters along the Deeping wall before Leonardo realized in horror:

“It’s a bomb!He’s got a bomb strapped—!”

The explosion rocked Josh from within the Hornburg.Gamling came in to the Sit Room and reported, “The Deeping—”

“I know! I know!Hit that button!Let your men know!”

Gamling hit the red button closest to him and exclaimed, “The Deeping Wall is Breached!Redouble upon it and do not let a single orc pass!”

“If they get around that wall, they’re going to go for the caves,” Josh muttered.“Suicide bombers.That bastard Saruman gave them _gunpowder_.”

 

 

Joshua’s ablative armor was torn asunder in jagged shards as well as obliterated stone.Leonardo followed them in, running them through as he passed them up.He came upon the wall of the outer gate of the Hornburg and leaped, bouncing upon the wall, and changing direction, swords slashing as he landed.Sundered limbs landed as well as Leonardo as he turned back out toward the breach.“You’ll all get a turn to get disarmed!” he taunted them.

 

“Dammit, I lost a cannon!” Josh hollered.He moved over to the right side of his console and brought up the security camera in the Cave shelters.“Éowyn,” He said, pressing a communication button. “Are you ladies all right in there?”

Éowyn was on the screen, comforting a weeping woman.Josh could hear the wail of scared children in the background.“There was a rocking of the earth under us,” Éowyn said, visibly shaken.

“I know,” Josh said.“Hang tight, it’s not going too badly.” 

 

Meanwhile, Uruk-Hai were scaling the outer wall with ladders.Gimli and Leonardo, having dispatched the first wave of the breach, looked down at them.

“How many?” Gimli asked the Turtle.

“Looks like three or four climbers,” Leo replied, getting his katana ready for their ascent. 

“No!” Gimli exclaimed.“How many have you…?”

“Oh,” the samurai said, doing the math in his head.“Like, thirty-nine?”

“THIRTY-NINE?” roared Gimli, and turned to his Elf friend.“I think we can do better than that.Khâzad, Khâzad!” he cried, and began to hack at the invaders.

Legolas looked at Leo and threw up his hand, as if to say, “I don’t know,” and joined in with his longknife.

“You’re out of ammo?” Leo asked the Elf, as the other Archers switched from arrows to daggers and swords and exotic pikes.

“Yes, but it was anticipated,” Legolas said.“As the enemy got closer, the combat would have gotten closer as well.”

Leonardo cried, beheading another invader.“No closer than the length of my sword!”

Haldir perished in the gunpowder blast.His body was taken in by Gamling, who returned to the Sit Room. Josh barely noticed the elder Marshal examine the Elvish blood on his fingers and mutter, “Green blood?Just like…” 

He continued to bombard the orcs with Phase disrupter fire, taking them out ten at a time.He kept looking at the screen, when he saw a nagging beep appear where no cavern was supposed to be.Then another beep.He recalibrated his sensors and found that an unknown cavern passage to the Glittering Caves was being infiltrated.Soon, the entire passage was bright red, a slash, creeping toward—

“Éowyn!” Josh exclaimed, hitting the button to reach the caves, when the screens began to darken.Panic crept into Josh’s voice as he smacked his comm badge.“Aragorn, we have a problem!”

“We have many problems!” Aragorn answered tersely. 

Josh took out his tricorder.“Something is disrupting the local magnetic field.It’s turning off the Hornburg!”

“We will get by,” Aragorn replied, followed by a satisfyingly squishy slashing noise.

“It means no cannons, and no sensors.It also means, there’s no way to warn Éowyn that the Invaders have Breached the caves!I repeat, Breached the Glittering Caves!”

“We have no way to reach them!” Aragorn cried. 

“Yes you do!” Josh replied. 

“It is no help, Joshua!One man, even with your—”

Josh did not answer.He ran out of the now-defunct Sit room into a darkened Hornburg and, past Gamling and a guarded Théoden, jumped out of the window.

 

Aragorn was in the inner court, getting ready to regroup, when he saw the golden streak from the top of the Burg fly down toward the Caves. 

“What does he mean to do?” Gimli exclaimed.“He will be overrun, alone against them all!Oh, if I were a little longer-legged!” the Dwarf lamented.

“Don’t count him out,” said Leonardo. 

 

 

Josh pushed himself through the narrows of Helm’s deep, not stopping until he was firmly within the Caves.Via bioluminescent strips of sickly green light unaffected by the loss of the Hornburg’s power, Josh found his way through the chambers, seeing abandoned crates and torches, unlit.While he did not see the hundred or so women and children hiding in the caves, he saw where they had hastily retreated further into the caves.

He also heard another noise, behind him.Screeching, growling, animalistic, the sounds of the Uruk-Hai as they plowed through their secret passage, hewn in stone for decades while none noticed, waiting for the right time for Saruman to strike at the heart of the Rohirrim at their most vulnerable.Josh finally came across a massive, round chamber, nearly half a kilometer in diameter, and at the far end, he saw the women of Rohan, struggling up ropes to a higher-up chamber.He streaked over to where they were, where Éowyn helped women get up the rope ladders, trying to break through their panic and despair.

She looked at him as he arrived, a slightly dazed look in her eyes, and cried, “Not going badly?They chased us into this chamber and this is not going badly?”

“Saruman sabotaged my power supply,” Josh said, not wasting any time.He took a toddler boy, another, and flew up to the mouth of the chamber, which had a bolted door, open, filling the smaller chamber with the civilians.He heard them coming, and took up infants, boys, girls and the sick and infirm, as the stout-hearted women continued to climb the rickety rope laddersFinally, he picked Éowyn, who was too tired to protest, and flew her up to the mouth of the chamber.

“You’ll be safe up here,” Josh told her, gathering up the rope, leaving nothing for the orcs to climb.We’ll get you all down to safety, but you have to promise me something, Éowyn.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“When I close that door, DO NOT open it,” he commanded.“Do not open it until we return for you.”

With that, he pressed the door closed, and she barred it from within, while Josh secured it from outside.

Meanwhile, the chamber had filled, as the chasm chamber under Moria had, with Uruk-Hai.However, these orcs were not accustomed to the dark as the Moria goblins had, and carried torches to help them find their way. They chanted horrible things as they moved.Josh could not count them, but guessed that there were at least two thousand in there with him.They circled the chamber, looking for a way up.

Josh leaped off the top of the precipice down into their midst.He landed in an arc, dead center of the cavernous chamber.Josh held his arms out in a defensive posture, his legs akimbo.He looked all round him as face after misshapen face peered at him, nothing but hate and hunger in their eyes.

“What have we here?” an Uruk-Hai captain laughed, close to him.“A man-creature who thinks he can take on the entire forces of the Fighting Uruk-Hai!”

Laughter, awful laughter, multiplied by the enclosed rock, filled the chamber.

Josh smiled.“Don’t worry about it,” he said to the captain.“I’m not.”

“I died an’ gone to hell!” the orc captain boasted.“Stupid and crazy, it doesn’t get any better than this.They say the crazy ones taste sweet.”

Josh closed his eyes, and said a little prayer.

His hands started to glow, causing a small unrest. 

 

Josh struck at the closest orc behind him, throwing him at the captain, when in a split second, he hurtled himself through the mass of orcs at dizzying speed, until he reached the wall of the cavern.Then kick, kick, strike, and he flew again, somersaulting through the air, knocking orcs down like a celestial bowling ball until he reached yet another side.Faster and faster he went, plowing through orcs, bouncing off of walls, and hoping for the best.

Éowyn defied Josh, and looked out at his glowing form, indiscernible from her distance and angle.Allshe saw was a golden streak bouncing from edge to opposite edge of the chamber, getting faster and faster, as if Joshua was a mad firefly, desperate to get out.Before long, his speed was such that he began to ricochet off the top of the chamber, dive bombing down below, becoming so fast that she could not discern where he began or where he ended.Joshua Reid simply was an unending trail of avenging light. 

After what seemed like an eternity, his flight path evened out, circling around the chamber, gaining more forward momentum.

No orc was left standing. Only a scarce few survived the assault. 

Joshua Reid did not care any longer.He finally built up enough momentum to burst through the narrow passageway the Uruks came through, tearing the remaining invaders asunder as he went, at speeds that he never believed possible, until finally, he burst out of the ground, where the remaining eight thousand Uruks lay in wait.Josh flew through them, his arms outspread, and he thought he heard the faint _tikka tikka tikka_ of bows, lances and, perhaps, even swords snapping in the wake of his swath of attack.

There was only one thing left to do, he thought, to end this once and for all.

He had to get Gandalf and the Riders here, now.

But not before he could inflict maximum damage.He ascended, the rain nothing to him, his eyes covered in his goggles, as he turned around and angled his body so that he looked behind him as he flew up.He took his phaser, and jammed it to its highest setting, setting sixteen, and, gritting his teeth, he fired.Below, things exploded as he fired, and he heard the _Bang_ -Bang, _Bang_ -Bang, Bang-Bang- _BOOM_ of their report.

His eyes were slits as he turned around and entered the clouds.Above them, the moon was silvery and cast a purplish blue light upon him as his golden energies streaked behind him.

He would get to the Riders.

The Battle of the Hornburg would soon be at an End.

 

 

 

 

All saw the golden streak move to the east, like a comet or a shooting star. Only Aragorn knew what it was.

“Joshua,” he breathed.

Joshua had shot, using his biokinetic powers, into the Glittering Caves to save the women and children of Rohan. Nearly two thousand orcs had found a side entrance into the cave and were about to lay waste upon them when Josh arrived.

And smote them all.

From there he shot through their defenses, tore through their ranks, and flew up into the sky, and turn, slightly, towards the Entwash river valley.

“Thirty-Nine!” Gimli exclaimed.“Do you mean to say that that shooting star was that snot-nosed boy?”

“It was,” Legolas confirmed.“But where does he go?”

“He goes to the Riders,” Aragorn said.“He goes to our aid.”

“He left no orc in his wake alive!” Legolas exclaimed.“Leonardo, did you see?”

Leonardo was still occupied with several Uruk-Hai Berserkers.They wore skullcap-like helmets, which oozed blood.“Still working, here, guys!Let’s keep at them, and maybe Josh’s work won’t be for nothing!”

“Agreed,” said Aragorn.

In the time that Josh began his run to save Éowyn from the horde, two more suicide bombers had compromised the Deeping wall, making it no defense.Théoden had soldiers retreat to the mouth of the caves to push them away.Leonardo had his own plan.

“That secret entrance needs to be found and purged,” Leonardo said, lopping off another berserker’s helmet.

“What do you suggest?” Aragorn asked, himself quickly reentering the fray.

“I’ve marked the location where one of the bombers was killed before he could explode,” Leonardo explained.“I’ll get to that entrance, with the explosive device, detonate it, and collapse that path.

“How will you do that without being seen?”Aragorn asked.

“Ah,” Leonardo said, with a smile, “That’s my specialty.”

Leonardo removed his armor, revealing reptilian skin, three fingered hands and two-toed feet and a large carapace over his back and front.Leather straps were placed over his wrists, ankles, legs and arms. He wore a wide belt with straps looped around his side.He quickly slung his swords over his shell, and placed a royal blue mask over his eyes.

“Goodbye to Leo the samurai,” Leonardo said, “Say hello to Leo the Ninja Turtle.”

And then he vanished.

Aragorn’s eyes widened.“Where did he go?”

Legolas replied, up to his arm in orc.“It would seem that his true nature has been revealed.”

 

 

 

The Uruk-Hai were easy to evade, Leonardo found.He didn’t even have to delve into the fifth-degree techniques to get around them.His own appearance most likely confused them; Was he one of their own?Just in case, he hastily wrapped a banner bearing the White Handaround the scabbard of his twin katana blades.Even in the cover of the rainy night, Leonardo began to realize that the orcs’ ability seemed to vary.No orc seemed to not be utilized.Which meant that the orcs varied by strength, agility, and intelligence.The lower orcs barely grunted, while the orc captains spoke and had a rudimentary grasp of tactics.

Still, none of them were a ninja.

 

The opening was a artificial tunnel with guards flanking each side.Leonardo walked past two orc grunts and proceeded to walk past the guards. 

“Ar!” one of them snapped.“Don’t get antsy!Wait your turn!”

“Turns!” the other one growled.“You and your procedures and rules and regulations!Look at this guy!He’s got more muscles than you’ve got brains and you’d have him wait all the way in line all the way over there?” The left-hand orc gestured to a long and lengthening line of orcs.“You go on ahead,” he said to Leo.“You’re nuts for not wearing any armor, but hey…”

“The captains want it organized, it stays organized!” the right-hand orc snarled, and shoved the other back into position.

“That’s a fine—” The left-hand orc stopped. “Where did he go?”

 

In the darkness of the cave, Leonardo’s cover was complete.He scaled the tunnel, grappling with a spare arm as he placed the bomb into place.he then took out the seemingly innocuous warm gray device—Joshua’s phaser.he quickly and deftly narrowed the beam and the setting, waited a moment, then leaped back down to the ground. 

While walking alongside the orcs he was able to blend in rather well, but running against the grain, he was sure to be detained if he didn’t complete his mission.At the mouth of the tunnel, the two guards were still bickering when he reemerged.

“What are you doing?” the left orc demanded.“I got a shiner here—” he indicated his gangrenous-looking dark eye—”Because you cut in line!”

“Sorry boys,” Leo said, brandishing the weapon.“This is the _end_ of the line.”

With that, he fired.

His aim was perfect.He hit the dead center of the backpack containing the gunpowder, and the explosion radiated along the length of the tunnel. Leonardo got out of the way of the shockwave, clinging to the side of the mountain, but the guards got the brunt of the explosion, and Leonardo saw as they were torn apart.

“That’s the breaks, fellas,” Leo muttered as he returned to the Hornburg.

 

By the time that Leonardo had broken himself back into the Hornburg, the Rohirrim were in poor shape.The Great Gate had been breached, and bows continued to be exchanged.He scaled the Burg and looked down.He sawAragorn and Gimli attempt to buy time while Riders retreated to the caves.He looked out and saw hundreds and hundreds still advancing forth.His heart began to sink.

“JOSHUAAAAA!” He cried. 

Legolas heard Leonardo’s cry.He continued to ply arrow after makeshift arrow at the horde, who used iron crossbows.Théoden was escorted back to the caves.Scouts reported a large chamber filled with dead orcs, and a higher chamber where Éowyn and the refugees sat.If the small temblor the Elf felt was correct, Leonardo successfully collapsed the tunnel.

But it was for nothing, if the Orcs chased them all into the caves anyway.

And the Elf knew why the Turtle shouted forth.

 

The bright orange-yellow trail of light told all that Joshua Maurice Reid had returned.

 

Seventeen of Théoden’s best men sat in the sit room, still darkened.Josh strode in, slick with rain, carrying a small device. Behind him, a stray ray of morning light cast his shadow ahead of him.“Excuse me, coming through,” he muttered as he got to the center of the room.He opened a hitherto unknown trapdoor, revealing more buttons and controls and placed his device down into it.He activated it, causing it to hum and blink with purple lights.

“Joshua?” Théoden asked, as Aragorn returned, bloodied but not broken.“What news?”

“Good news,” Josh said, still catching his breath. All around them, the lights of the Sit Room returned, and its screens and monitors and buttons resumed its activity.

Leonardo, himself soaking wet and sans armor, entered through a window and ran to Josh.“Are we back in business?” he asked.Josh was still busy getting his bearings. 

Legolas read the display.“We still have four thousand orcs piling the Rock, Reid!What news?”

Josh got up to the speakerphone button and replied, with a confident smile.“I’ve been told to send a message.Two words, gentlemen.”

The Hornburg reverberated with Josh’s voice

“FORTH EORLINGAS!” 

With that, Josh again ran for the window.“Leonardo, man whatever cannons we have left.I fly for Éomer, Gandalf, and Victory!”

With that, he was again away.

“You heard the man!” Leo said to Legolas.“Help me target the cannons on the Rock!”

 

Josh flew past the tunnel entrance, now choked up with rubble and dead orcs.He knew that Leonardo was the only one who could pull it off.He then sped around the western cliffs, where the rain had subsided.The sun rose ahead of them all, bathing them in golden light.

Three thousand Riders, all led by three.

An older, distinguished Marshal who Josh knew to be Erkenbrand. Another Marshal who Josh knew well; Éomer, Théoden’s nephew and Éowyn’s brother.And there was the white rider on Shadowfax, the greatest horse ever bred on the Riddermark.

“Gandalf!”Josh said, skidding to a halt in front of the awesome display of cavalry.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” Gandalf replied.

“We’re ready.What you gave me canceled out Saruman’s EM scrambler and the Hornburg has defensive capability.Even deflectors.”

“Did you give the call?”Éomer asked.“Do they know?”

Josh looked toward Helm’s Deep and replied, “Check it out.”

Éomer saw the Hornburg spit out bolts of orange fire at the orcs, causing explosions in its wake.Arrows and lances bounced off of an ephemeral barrier.

“Lead the call, Lieutenant Reid,” Gandalf said to Josh.

“Aye, sir!”Josh said, saluting.“Forth Eorlingas!”

Éomer answered the cry, and Gandalf drove Shadowfax down the cliff.

Josh, of course, could not help but fly ahead of the host of Riders, and he drove directly into the fray.

Faster and faster he drove, and the orcs that lay in his wake were felled instantly. Behind him, he saw the Riders spread out, and did not stop.Josh made his way for the rear of the Burg, which was not protected by the deflector shield, leaving no orc in his path untouched.

The three cannons that remained operational fired away, devastating the Uruk-Hai.Leonardo and Legolas fired with laser precision as Théoden looked on.“This is a proud day,” Théoden said to Aragorn. 

“What is this?” Leonardo said, looking at the readings. 

Legolas looked at the sensor display, depicting a great green force coming toward the black force that represented the orcs.“Something is overtaking the Uruk-Hai, but does not harm the Riders.I did not see another army!”

“Sensors are a little strange,” Leo replied.“If I’m reading this right, it’s not an army—It’s a forest!”

“Leonardo, Legolas, go!” Aragorn said.“See with your own eyes who our allies are.”

 

 

From the top of the Burg, the Elf and the ninja scouted far into the plain.Leo used Joshua’s binoculars to see, while Legolas had no need.“The trees!” Leo exclaimed.“They’re moving, and swallowing the orcs up!”

From the horse-shaped comm badge, given to Legolas from Aragorn, the Ranger’s voice exclaimed, “Behold the White Rider!Gandalf has come again!”

“Mithrandir!” Legolas breathed.“This is wizardry indeed! Come! I would look on this forest, ere the spell changes.”

“You got it,” Leo agreed.

 

The Battle of the Hornburg ended quickly after that, almost anticlimactically.In the Situation Room, Théoden and his men saw as the virtual orcs on the big screen steadily were decimated, while the Riders pressed and cut their way to Helm’s Deep.At the top of the outer court’s wall, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Leonardo loudly cheered as Joshua, Gandalf, and Éomer returned, embracing in reunion and rejoicing in their victory.

Their hard-won victory.


	7. Because of the Wonderful Things He Does

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh follows Gandalf & Company to Orthanc.
> 
> Buffi K'gar peers into the Palantir.

In the tower of Orthanc, papers remained ruffled and perused on long stone tables.Saruman, the tower’s master, did not pace.In his three thousand years, he never paced.While others paced, Saruman listened.

El-Aurians are listeners, after all.

Right now he was listening to Grima Suder, a Betazoid he had rescued from an unfortunate crash just outside of Isengard a number of years ago.Since then, he had proven quite useful.

“Do you remember, Grima, your plight when you first came to me?” Saruman asked the Betazoid.

“Of course, sir,” Grima replied.“You helped me decipher the Tablets of Turnax, and allowed me to reap its benefits.”

“Yes,” Saruman said, looking down at the small bowl of gunpowder he’d created.“Betazoids.Did you know that I met a quarter-Betazoid earlier this year?”

“D-did you?” Grima said, trying not to stammer.Saruman was the only one who could render him tongue-tied.

“Yes.A young Starfleet officer named Adam Thomas Reid.”

Grima’s blood went cold.He thought back to what Joshua Reid had said, that if Adam had encountered the Betazoid, instead of his metahuman former student, Grima would be as good as dead.

“The two of you are tied together,” Saruman continued, “Through your actions.He also is tied to me, through his association with Gandalf. Gandalf!How did he return?”

Grima looked at the pile of gunpowder and decided to change the subject.“Why are you bothering with gunpowder when you could equip those animals with phasers?”

“I don’t need phasers to exterminate these primitives,” Saruman sniffed.“All I need is the ability to create as many Uruk-Hai as I can…and patience.Ah, Golruffe Kakare….Have I told you of Golruffe Kakare?”

Grima shook his head.

“He was the Biologist.He was given the knowledge of those Maiar who had dominion over all living things, and he created creatures as one made a painting or a sculpture.He was an artist.”

“I’d love to meet—”

“He was killed by the Borg,” Saruman interrupted him.“The rest of us returned to the Alpha Quadrant…”

Saruman remained silent for a very long time.Grima finally spoke.“Yes?”

“The Nexus.Yes.Yes, the Nexus.It makes perfect sense.”

“What is it?” Grima asked.

Saruman chuckled.“I just had an insight.A wonderful insight.And if I am not mistaken, I need not worry about my own mortality.”

It was at that moment that Saruman spied something green and angry spying at him through his window.

 

 

The Battle of the Hornburg was over.

 

Now, all that needed to be discussed were the next stage of plans.All the major players of the battle stood in the Hornburg’s technologically (and recently discovered) Situation Room: Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas stood in one corner, while Théoden and his family stood nearby.Joshua Maurice Reid, Starfleet officer, and Leonardo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, relative outsiders, sat at the console of the Sit room while Erkenbrand and Gamling, Théoden King’s lieutenants, stood in the periphery.Gandalf stood in the center.

 

“Isengard remains,” Gandalf said.“I would go, and any one else who would come with me.There we would see many strange things.”

“There are not men enough in the Mark to assault the stronghold of Saruman,” said Théoden.

“Nevertheless to Isengard I will go.I won’t be there long, my journey is now eastward,” Gandalf told them all.

“I’m going, sir,” said Joshua. 

“Of course you are, Joshua Maurice,” Gandalf said.“I was about to order you to.Anyone else?”

“I am weary,” said Théoden.“While I’m much improved from Wormtongue’s care, the reality of my age cannot be ignored.”

“We will then rest now, those who will ride,” Gandalf said.“We will go under cover of night; doubtless we don’t want anyone to unnecessarily know we’re coming.”

 

 

That night, Joshua sat in the Sit Room, sipping a cup of wine and chewing on provisions.Leonardo sat with him, wearing a simple blue Elvish robe.

“Does this thing get cable?” Leo asked.

“What’s cable?” Josh asked back.

“Twenty-forth century sucks,” Leo said, beginning to slur.

“It’s startin’ to,” Joshua sighed.

“What’s got you youngsters all melancholy?” Gimli’s voice came from behind the console.

“Is that the lil’ guy with the beard?”Leonardo asked.

“Yeah,” Josh replied, and whispered, loudly, as only the inebriated can. “I don’t think he likes me.”

“I like ye both fine,” Gimli said, and sat down on the third console seat. “More so after seeing such fine warriors battle.”

“We were just holding our own little memorial,” Josh said.“For our good friends, Háma and Galion.Some gave all, as the old saying…sez.”

“You should be gettin’ your sleep, lads,” Gimli admonished.“Especially you, falling star.”

“I don’t think I’m drunk enough,” Leonardo sighed.“Raphael once smuggled a bottle of Jack Daniels for us, and…God, I’m the only one who passed out.It’s just as well.I’m the only one who could have done all the katas that Splinter made me do as punishment.”

“Tell him who Splinter is!” Josh commanded.

“Splinter is the giant mutant rat that taught me and my brothers the art of Ninjitsu in the sewers of New York City,” Leo said, suddenly sober.

The Dwarf took that in and was quiet for a small moment, then, finally, “I’ll take a glass o’ that,” He took the flask of wine and began to pour.“Aye, many men and Elves gave their lives for this day.It’s good that they be remembered.A more proper memorial will come, but for now?We must to bed.Saruman will be a challenge, even for the two of you.Go!”

As the two outsiders left for bed, Gimli sat down, and poured himself another glass.“Can’t leave this sitting out to waste, now, can I?” He muttered as he poured.

 

The next morning, Joshua woke up at the top of the Rock.Leonardo sat quietly next to him, in the lotus position, and humming slightly.

“Za Zen?” Josh mumbled quietly.

“Yeah,” Leo replied.“They’re burying the dead, you know.”

“I know,” Josh said. 

“They took Galion’s body late last night,” Leo continued.They’re burying him in Mirkwood forest.They were asking for you earlier.”

“They were?Why?” Josh asked, jerking himself up.

“They don’t have any kindling to cremate the orcs’ remains,” Leo said.Apparently their bodies are toxic.”

“Okay,” Josh said. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Your ray gun?”

Josh scratched his back of his burr-head and sighed.“Doesn’t matter. I don’t think the phasers have enough power to vaporize ten thousand orcs.”

Leonardo got out of his meditating position, and looked at Josh with a new scrutiny.“So…you’re from Earth?”

“Yeah,” Josh shot back.“You too.What’s your point?”

“Is it still…I mean, is it okay?The planet, I mean.”

Josh smiled and nodded.“We fixed it up pretty well since your time.”

“New York still there?” asked Leo.He leaned in, eagerly.

“Manhattan Island’s still there,” Josh said.“Only a few buildings from the twentieth century are there.Little villages of Queens, Bronksville, Harlem East…I know because I went to school at SAGR, and that was up near Peekskill, West Salem, Hartsdale, so we went down to Manhattan to visit the different embassies…That’s where all the Federation’s Embassies are housed, on Manhattan Island, you see.”

“Yeah, it was sort of the same in my time,” Leo replied.“The UN buildings.”

“Uh-huh,” Josh said, beginning to wake up.“Has Gandalf been up?”

“He said that we’re going to head for Isengard around five p.m.He also said that they were going to be burying Háma near the causeway.”

“Dang!” Josh stood straight up.“I hope I didn’t miss it!”He grabbed some things from his pack and left.

Josh rushed down the ladder that led to the penultimate floor of the Númenórean tower, and jumped out of the window.As he did, he started his kinetic field and coasted to the wall of the inner court, then performed the same maneuver again to the outer court.As he did, he saw the nearly destroyed Deeping Wall.Orc suicide bombers had broken it down last night.Josh sighed, as he reached a small, somber group.Josh landed at a respectable distance and walked up to them.They were led by Théoden, who had just placed the first shovelful of earth upon Háma’s swaddled body.His teenaged son, Haleth, stood soberly.

“Théoden King,” Josh said, announcing his presence.

Théoden looked around and saw Josh, wearing his full Starfleet uniform, which he had hastily put on as he jumped from the Hornburg.Another funeral, so soon. “Joshua.Take the shovel, please.”

Josh soberly took the shovel, and took a large bit of dirt and threw it into Háma’s grave.With that, he gave the shovel to Théoden and said.“I’m a stranger to your land, but he called me friend.”

“Háma was a friend to many,” Gamling replied.“He endeared himself to all the King’s guard and will be missed; he will never be replaced.”

Háma’s widow was comforted by Éowyn, who looked at Josh with tears in her eyes.She said nothing.

Persistently, Háma’s body was buried, and Joshua walked back with the King and Éowyn.

“You had great losses,” Josh began. 

“Yes.And I only reluctantly marched into this war.I hope that the sacrifices that Háma and too many others made were not in vain.”

“We’ll get some satisfaction in Isengard,” Josh replied.“I don’t know of Saruman’s fate.”

Théoden gave him a curious look.“How do you mean?”

“It’s really up to Gandalf, but Saruman may be held responsible for crimes that he’s committed against the Federation.”

“I would take Gandalf’s counsel,” Théoden recommended.“Your Federation would no doubt receive its satisfaction from his final decision concerning our rogue wizard’s fate.”

“Of course,” Josh agreed.“But, god, I’d love to be the one to put the cuffs on him.”

Théoden chuckled and clapped Joshua’s back.“We shall see.There is more to our travails at Helm’s deep before we all depart.”With that, he left Josh and Éowyn alone, looking over his shoulder, expectantly.

“So,” the two said, overlapping each other.

“You’re going back to Edoras,” Josh said, going first.

“I…” Éowyn took a breath.“I wanted to thank you…for saving our life.”

“Hey,” Josh said, Gesturing to his uniform, “It’s all part of the job.”

“I saw you, though you bade me to stay behind the door in the Caves,”Éowyn continued.“You have a gift within you…like Háma said.”with that, she leaned in, and kissed Joshua on the cheek.

As she pulled back, Josh gave her a puzzled look.“You’re giving off mixed signals, chere,” he said.

“Mixed signals?” she repeated.

“Aragorn,” Josh said, quickly.“You are attracted to him.”

She looked away, took a step behind him.Josh wheeled around, continued.“And I won’t lie to you—You’re a very wonderful young lady.You make me want to make you laugh and bring you out of your shell…protect you.”

Éowyn smiled faintly, still not looking directly at him.

“But that’s not what you want, is it?But you have to know that _his_ heart belongs to _another_ —”

“I know—!” Éowyn objected.

“—And that even if they never see each other again, that bond will never be broken.Éowyn…Do whatever you will, but please, please, _please_ ,” He took her hand into his.“Don’t let your heart get broken.I couldn’t bear that.”

With that, he left her behind.

 

 

 

The trip from Helm’s Deep to Nan Curunir was strangely uneventful.In fact, the only unusual thing about the journey was the trip through the bizarre forest which had appeared, out of nowhere, yet did not strangle the road north.Josh casually scanned the trees with his tricorder and showed it to Gandalf.

“Very strange readings, Admiral.These might be the largest ambulatory plant life on record!”

“No orc corpses, though,” Leonardo noted. 

“Whatever became of the miserable orcs?” Legolas asked Gandalf.

“We may never know,” Gandalf asked.And as for ambulatory plant life, this is merely an appetizer.”

“What’s the distance from here to Isengard?” Leo asked the wizard.

“Fifteen leagues, as Saruman’s crebain fly,” Gandalf replied.“That would be seventy-two kilometers.”

By the time they came out of the forest, it was sundown.The sky was stained with red and orange streamers with deep purple.They returned to the hills where Háma was killed by the Fords of Isen, and Josh was quiet for a time.

On the other side of the river, Josh noticed that there were small black deposits about the riverbank. He also noticed a slight odor that wrinkled his nose.“Smells like a factory,” he said.“What was he dumping into the river?”

“The wastes of his industry,” Gandalf replied.“It is as Radagast had said.He also made mention of benzene in the waters.That will have to be addressed.”

“Kinda looks like Cleveland,” Leo quipped.

“Eh?” Gimli said.

“Back where I was from,” the Turtle explained, “Cleveland was a city that was heavily polluted.So badly, if I recall, that the Cuyahoga River actually burned with all the crap they dumped into it.”

“I remember reading about that,” Josh said.“Cleveland’s beautiful, now, these days.They improved it within a generation of that river-burning incident, in fact.”

“I daresay they would; none would want their river to burn but once in their lifetime,” Gimli said.

“It took my people hundreds of years to realize we had to take care of our world,” Josh said.“Saruman’s disdain for the environment is nothing less than criminal.”

“I’m not knocking it _too_ much,” Leo said, thoughtfully.“If it wasn’t for the things that people threw away, My brothers and I wouldn’t have furniture.”

They pressed on, and continued to find the bodies of the fallen.However, they were not bothered by the Wargs and any of the other animals of Saruman. Théoden vowed to give them all proper burials after their business with the wizard was done.

“Why does Joshua not incinerate them with his devices,” Legolas asked.

“There are many ways to die,” Josh replied, “And about as many ways to honor the body we leave behind.”He looked at the Elf. “It’s really an alien concept to you, isn’t it?”

Legolas blinked.“Death?”

“You’re a people who don’t seem to die, save for violence.It must be a horrible idea, isn’t it?”

Legolas didn’t know how to respond.“The mysteries of death has haunted my footsteps of late.”

“Those of us who are reminded that our time has an end often build…rituals to honor the departed and rejoice in the life that that person had.Since our lives are finite, it gives them a precious value,” Josh explained.

“They do so in a rather unique manner in your home city, don’t they, Joshua?” Gandalf said.

“Yeah, they do,” Josh said.“A New Orleans funeral procession!Mournful, sometimes joyous jazz bands follow the funereal wagon as it wheels through the streets of the Quarter…one of the more expressive traditions we have, I have to say.”

When the turn of conversation went silent again, they broke again through the patches of trees that flocked the path, and Joshua finally saw his first glimpse of Isengard through his binoculars.

 

At least, what was left of it.

Joshua saw a burst dam at the far end, and water cascaded across the round area of Isengard freely, falling into deep, riven trenches in the ground.The obsidian tower of Orthanc rose from the waters, and its reflection created the illusion of a suspended pike of darkness.

“You may want to take a look, Joshua, at the ‘ambulatory plant life’ directly ahead,” Gandalf said to Josh.

 

All looked ahead at the towering shadow before them.Josh looked up and squeaked with a mere, “Eep.”

Gandalf told them, “You need no weapons.These are but herdsmen.Not enemies; indeed, they are not concerned with us at all.”

Josh and Leo continued to gape.“It’s a walking tree,” Leo gasped.The willowy, ash-gray colored creature spoke with a loud, bassoon-like voice.

“They don’t even grow them that big on Phylos,” Josh whispered, then said, to Gandalf, “Tree herders?How much of Arda’s trees can move around, anyway?”

“It varies.It’s not quite certain, the process, but somehow, many of the trees have some sort of awareness,” Gandalf replied.

Josh asked, “Can they communicate?”

Gandalf told them, “Ents, as they are called, speak very slowly and deliberately.Unlike we, who are animal life, they are rather leisurely.”

“Will the translator work on them?” Josh asked.

“HEMM,” a deep booming sub-baritone called down towards them.“What are these new saplings?”

“Gentlemen,” Gandalf said to the company, “this is Quickbeam.”

Josh didn’t know what to say, how to relate to the giant man with leaves for hair and bark for skin.

“I know you,” Quickbeam said, looking at directly at Josh, and shook his head.“Hasty, hasty.Flying past the trees of my wood.”

“Where is our host?” Gandalf asked.

“He is close to the wizard’s tower, as promised, HEMM,” Quickbeam replied.“Though what he does there is rather queer, even for wizards’ tastes.”

Josh saw columns of steam rising from where the tower met the water.“Yeah, I see it.Is he trying to boil the water away?”

“Maybe he is,” Gandalf said, thoughtfully. “Let’s rest here and we shall get there by morning.”

 

 

 

The night was quiet.Josh lay in his roll bag.This time, Gandalf sat by him, stoking the fire.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy,” He muttered.

“That Shakespeare?” Josh asked.

“Yes,” Gandalf said.“ _Hamlet_.”

“You never cease to amaze,” Josh said, shifting inside his sleeping roll.“Of course, that’s always been your schtick.”

Gandalf looked down on Josh, amusement gleaming in his eye.“Schtick, Lieutenant?”

“You come in, you do some really amazing things, you send us all along on an adventure, or a mission, and away we go.It’s been that way for the past few hundred years with you.”

Gandalf faked a wounded look.“You’ve found me out.”

“Well, some of us are more upset about it than others,” Josh said, quietly.

“Humans have never been very good at accepting…necessary deception,” Gandalf said.“Adam has always been a model human.”He looked into the fire.“And what about you?”

“Well, I—” Josh stopped as the horses suddenly started to nicker, and mists began to gather around them.“What the hell?”

Gandalf put a hand at the opening of Josh’s sleeping bag.“No!Do not take any action.”

“More ents?” Josh asked.

Gandalf nodded. “The oldest of them, Treebeard, awaits us at Orthanc.They are making their way back, leading the Huorns back to Fangorn.”

“Huorns are the lesser aware plant forms?” said Josh.

Gandalf nodded.“You should rest, Joshua,” he said.“Saruman will be a challenge.One of his powers has always been his charisma.He will be able to twist your mind if you are not prepared.You were able to thwart Wormtongue with your kinetic field; Saruman will be more difficult to keep at bay.”

“Gee, Grandpere,” Josh drawled, “Were you trying to keep me awake with worry?”

Gandalf chuckled and patted Josh.“Don’t worry,”he said.“All that remains here is the loose end.”

 

The next morning, the group got back up, and Josh and Aragorn walked their horses, Brego and Frèalaf, near the front of the company.As they entered Nan Curunir, the small enclave which held Isengard, Josh saw that Leonardo’s Cleveland reference was more true than he’d imagined.Only the most tenacious plants grew in the few miles leading up to Saruman.Nothing else could survive. Joshua, many times along the dark, stone-cobbled road, shook his head, sadly.

“It’s an act of selfishness,” Leonardo said, abruptly, ending the last few kilometers of silence between the members of the company.“He destroyed this whole beautiful place because he was selfish and greedy.Gandalf, will this place recover?”

“Not all evils leave permanent scars,” Gandalf said, and Leonardo nodded.

“Gandalf,” Josh asked.“Orthanc was built by the Númenóreans, same as Helm’s Deep, am I right?”

“You are,” Gandalf replied. “Do you still have that device I gave you?”

Josh nodded; in his pack he held a small device, which countered an EM scrambler device which Saruman used to sabotage the Magnetic power generator at Helm’s deep.He asked, as they neared the great disk of Isengard, the waters of the River Isen subsided, “Where do I put it?”

“Its location will reveal itself,” Gandalf told him.

Leonardo nodded, ready to work with Josh in deactivating the ill-used tower, when a voice called, fromahead.He saw what the others saw, and marveled at it.

It was a little man.

“Welcome to Isengard!”He said.Joshua knew where the speaker was from.Like Bob and Nob in Bree, it was a Hobbit which greeted them.Another figure dozed along side him.“Meriadoc, son of Saradoc is my name—” He kicked at his companion, “—This is my cousin Peregrin.”Peregrin groggily smiled at them, and then began to take a bite of one of the apples which he had gathered around him.Meriadoc continued: “Saruman is inside, but he’s holding counsel with one Grima Wormtongue, or he’d himself greet you to his home.”

“No doubt,” Gandalf said, laughing.“I don’t suppose he charged you with guarding the food stores of Isengard before it floated away?”

“And the Old Toby!” Peregrin interjected.

“Treebeard gives his regards,” Meriadoc said.“He bade me to welcome the Lords of Rohan, and so I have.”

 

Legolas and Gimli leered mockingly at the two, and seemingly scolded them, but Josh saw—They were missed.Josh and Leonardo gave a knowing look as Gimli proceeded to give them both as big a hug as they could both bear.

“So that’s a hobbit,” Leo said, knowingly.

“So is Orthanc left unguarded, Merry?” Gandalf asked.

“Quickbeam and a few other Ents are nearby,” Merry replied.“Oh—Treebeard also said for you and the Lord of Rohan to ride to the Northern wall—He’s waiting for you.” He took a bite of his apple.“Got some food for you too.”

“Sir?” Josh spoke up.

“Yes, Lieutenant, You will accompany me, along with Lord Théoden,” Gandalf said, a bit impatiently.“I know how much you want this.”

Leonardo didn’t wait to be told.“I’ll stay with them,” he said.Though armored, the Turtle was unmasked and was getting stares from the two hobbits.He smiled amiably.“Hi there.”

 

 

 

The three walked down the road to Orthanc.The black obsidian tower was marred by chips and chunks on its sides.To Josh’s eyes, it looked like someone—or something—had scratched at it like a cat had gone at it with its scratching post.“Gandalf,” he asked, “Did the ents do that to the tower?”

“Ents, when roused, are wrathful,” Gandalf said.“Doubtless, they came to pay retribution for Saruman’s abuses.

“HOOM,” an Entish voice boomed as they turned around the tower.To Josh’s eyes, Treebeard looked like an anthropomorphic oak.Leaves formed beard, and gnarled branches formed feet and legs and arms with innumerable phalanges.His eyeswere gentle, gleaming amber, and he looked at them with something between interest and indifference.

“Hmm-HOM,” He boomed again.“There you are.Arriving before I completed my last thought,” he said, shaking his leaves at them.

“The Lord of the Riddermark, sir,” Théoden addressed the ent, and bowed low.“I cannot express enough gratitude.”

“Joshua Reid.Well met, Master of Fangorn,” Josh spoke to Treebeard, formally.

The others of Théoden’s party remained silent, but filled with awe.

“I have done as you have asked,” Treebeard said to Gandalf.“He is within the tower, unharmed.

“Doubtlessly, trying to find new deviltry,” Théoden said, then asked the Istari, “What have you decided on his fate?”

“An old Terran proverb states, ‘How you sow, so shall you reap,’ Josh said.

Gandalf looked at Joshua darkly.“I suppose you would phaser Saruman into ash, would you?”

Josh looked at Gandalf defiantly, but Gandalf continued, “This is a matter that only I can address.For what Saruman has done goes beyond what he’s done against Rohan, Arda, and the Federation.”

“Speakin’ of the Federation, what the hell is really going on, Admiral?” Josh asked.

“What does it look like?” Gandalf said, with a bit more thunder in his voice.“What more information do you need to know?”

“Why is this—no offense—” Josh deferred to Théoden, “local war so important that we’d violate the Prime Directive at every turn and involve Starfleet?”

“Local war?” Théoden retorted.

“Your majesty, when I say I’m not from around here, where do you think I’m from?”

He looked at Gandalf, then back at Josh.“Where _is_ the Federation?North of Rhovanion?”

Josh sighed.“When we talk about Starfleet, we talk about ships that go to other planets…other stars.”

Théoden looked at him, puzzling, then, finally: “You are associated with the Storm Crow, Joshua Reid.That you are more than most men is no secret.But if you are but a lieutenant in a Fleet that travels to the stars, then you live up to the legends of your forebear, Eärendil, who traveled to the stars.”

“Sauron presents a great threat to the Federation,” Gandalf said.“His reach is growing beyond this system, and his ties to Earth, though tenuous, are there.And shortly before I learned of the One Ring, We picked up readings of temporal energy that could not be explained other than Sauron.And—”

“What?” Josh asked, impatiently.

“There was evidence to support that Sauron was attempting to create…a rather illegal particle.I can say no more.

“That was enough to garner the support of Starfleet’s inner echelon, and with the blessing with the c-in-c, I had a ship in mind. One with the two of you.Once you had arrived, you would beam down, receive your orders, and continue with the company to ensure the destruction of the Ring.I had reason to believe that Terrans are rather able to resist the call to Power that the Ring presents.I then took a turn for the unexpected.”

“You didn’t expect to be in Moria,” Josh said.

“Cahadras, which Leonardo was successfully able to traverse, no longer was an option.The Gap of Rohan was too hostile.It wasn’t until the demon of Khazad-dûm was before me that I realized that your ship had arrived.What happened to the _Hanson_?”

Josh scarcely remembered himself.It seemed a million years away.“It was struck by some sort of ship that Sauron launched against us—”

“Then I was correct!” Gandalf exclaimed.

“The weapon trapped it in time.It may not wear off until the summer.We weren’t able to raise any other Starfleet ships or starbases.”

“We may be able to retrieve the Hanson sooner once the Enemy is dispatched,” Gandalf said.“That will have to do for now.”

“But what about Saruman?” Josh said.“We need to get him!”

“I will take care of him,” Gandalf said, “But you must be on your guard, as I have said.However, Grima Suder has done plenty to garner your attention, but I would ask that you leave him to his own devices.”

“He’s guilty of theft and murder, _Grandpere_!He killed Varria Reid!”

“Who is Varria?” Théoden asked, lost in their conversation.Treebeard, accustomed to wild, hasty conversation, said nothing, and looked off, speaking to passing ents in a frequency too low for the humanoids to hear.

“Adam’s grandmother,” Josh said, absently.“He killed her and stole the Tablets of Turnax.”

“Wormtongue’s end is tied with Saruman’s,” Gandalf said to Josh.“Take a lesson from the Ents, Joshua Maurice.Slow and steady wins the race.”

As Gandalf said that, Aragorn led his group to the north wall.

“If we’re all ready, now, we shall proceed,” Gandalf said.“The three of us have had conversation and have made plans.I must pay Saruman a farewell visit, and it must be done, though it will be dangerous, and, most likely, pointless.”

They approached the tower.The doorway was located in the cleft of the tower’s starburst design.A stairway, seemingly carved into the design of Orthanc, led to the entrance.“I shall lead up the stairs,” Gandalf told them, regarding the grand stairwell before them.“I know of the dangers of this tower.”

Théoden pledged to follow, and for Éomer as well.Éomer looked wary, as if he smelled danger in the air.Aragorn was pledged by Gandalf, and Gimli and Legolas weren’t too far behind.

“I realize that he’s all yours, Gandalf, but I’m going to keep the cuffs handy anyway,” Josh said.“I feel kind of lucky.”

“As you wish,” Gandalf said, and stepped up to the doorway.“SARUMAN!” He exclaimed, loudly, and Joshua winced.“Saruman, come forth now!”

A minute passed, another, and then a voice, almost singsong, rang out:

“Who is it?”

“I know _that_ voice,” Théoden said, with disdain. 

“Hey!Wormface!” Josh hollered up at the window where he saw a hand gripping the windowsill above him.

“Grima Suder!” Gandalf called after him.“If you’re going to be Saruman’s doorman, do it properly!”

“And make it snappy!” Josh cried.

“Well?” a voice purred.It was not Wormtongue’s.Josh’s head suddenly felt fuzzy, as if he had been given a hypospray filled with tranquilizers.“Why must you disturb my rest?Will you give me no peace at all by night or day?”

Leonardo shook his head.“Where is that coming from?” he asked out loud.“Is this guy another freakin’ telepath?”

Another beat passed, and soon Saruman was before them, just as Joshua remembered him from the viewscreen on the _USS Hanson_ bridge.His long face, his deep, dark eyes, and his iridescent cloak.He could tell, right away, that he and Gandalf were, indeed, people from the same planet.

The words came from Saruman like satin sheets, covering them, and they felt good, but there was a clamminess, a coldness about them that Josh could not shake.His head seemed to get fuzzier and fuzzier.He wondered; was he catching a cold?Or something else…

“He’s pulling the whammy,” Josh mumbled.“I feel far too good.”

“It’s…It’s like a contact high,” Leo said, a slight smile on his face.“An overflow of endorphins.”Leonardo kept stepping back, away from Orthanc.“Maybe he has a range.”

Josh shook his head.“If he can reach Meduseld from here, I don’t think a couple meters are gonna make a difference.Let me…”

Josh concentrated his kinetic field. It was a part of him, so he didn’t know how it was like for more mundane humans, but for him, the field felt like a warmth from his core.With years of practice and training, he was able to move it throughout his body, propelling him from any vector, any direction.The field also kept him from feeling the horrible cold of outer space, though he still needed oxygen to breathe.But in his training, he had never realized he could use the field to protect him from telepathic incursion.

Until Now.And, though his was the only head glowing, undoubtedly, Saruman’s words had failed to impress many of the others, including Éomer, who kept narrowing his eyes and trying to shake the voice off.

“Lord, hear me!” he said, trying to talk above the noise in his head.“Now we feel the peril that we were warned of. We have come too far to be enthralled by this old liar, this twister of words.”

“Yeah, paleface speak with forked tongue,” Leo quipped.

Saruman looked down.“Speak with forked tongue, do I, young serpent?” he said, and for a moment, the pressure in Leonardo’s ears diminished. But then, Saruman’s voice was back in full force, and directed at him. “Young warrior, borne of base animals, you would fight to your end, but for what?”Saruman’s voice directed itself back at Théoden, and Leonardo remained stock still.

“Shall we now, Lord of Rohan?” Saruman purred.“Shall we not have peace?”

Josh looked at Théoden, and saw his face slacken.The grip on his phaser tightened, ready for any false word.But the King of the Mark replied, finally:

“Yes.There will be peace.”

Josh surged forward, but the staff of Gandalf barred him.

“When you hang from a noose for the sport of your own crows, I shall have peace with you, and Orthanc.I fear your words have lost their charm.”

With that, the pressure stopped.Leonardo shook his head once, and snapped into a defensive posture, as the orange illumination around Joshua’s head dimmed, the warmth taken back into his body. 

“Uneducated primitives!” Saruman hissed.“I am being confounded by knuckle-dragging hominids who only last week learned how to make fire!I don’t need you!I don’t need any of you!But you, Gandalf!As the Teacher, you have always been absolute in your thinking, and sometimes obstinate!Won’t you now listen to me?”

Gandalf sighed, and shook his head. 

“What part of being thrown around your chambers like a ragdoll and trapped in Orthanc did I misconstrue?Is there something else you’d like to say?Take back, perhaps?”

“I will admit, I was a bit…emotional,” Saruman said, and Josh was unable to stop the fuzziness from infiltrating his head.“But we can talk about redresses inside, and we, you and I, we can talk about them, like rational, enlightened beings.We’ll leave these unenlightened souls here; surely they’ll follow any advise you dispense.My hospitality is before you.”

Gandalf did not look away from Saruman, and, for an instant, Josh feared that he had been ensnared. 

Until Gandalf laughed.

“I fear, Saruman, that enlightenment has avoided you.Unlike you, who would like to push your betrayal, the Uruk-Hai, and the deaths of several Rohirrim under the rug, I know all that you have done.Joshua!” Gandalf called to the Starfleet officer.“At the foot of the stair there is an access hatch.Open it, and place the device, just like in the Hornburg.”

Josh complied, and found an even more complex array of switches, dials and buttons, in the same fashion as the Sit Room in Helm’s deep.He placed the beige, square device and set it, causing it to flash in purple lights and beep quietly.He closed the hatch.

“What?” Saruman said, looking behind him.“What is—What do you MEAN I’ve lost power!Well—light a candle, there’s plenty of them, Betazoid idiot!”

“I don’t think we’ll be coming up,” Gandalf said.“It’s much harder to leave Orthanc than it is to enter it.I had to escape from the roof, and Adam had to be transported out.Perhaps the exit door can only be operated by its owner.Shall we find out?Won’t you come down?”

Saruman’s voice had lost all of its glamour.It now sounded scratchy, and sometimes shrill, like wood whose varnish had been stripped away.

“Will I come down?” he repeated.“I don’t think so!What kind of cretin do you take me for?I will not be delivered unto these primitive swords and those infernal wood-demons.”

“You only mistrust because you yourself are deceitful,” Gandalf rebuked.“I promise, that none will harm you; not while I remain here.This is your last chance to come down peaceably.”

“What’s the catch?” Josh blurted.

“Indeed?” Saruman said.

“No catch,” Gandalf promised.“If you come down, give me the Key to Orthanc, and your staff, you will not be harmed.”

“Oh, aren’t we high and mighty!” Saruman mocked.“First we take Orthanc, then Barad-dûr, and then we can take Radagast’s and Gomphor’s staff, then you can go find the others who were chosen, like Hercules and Jaga-Garon and Mumm-ra and anyone else who you’ve ever disagreed with.I was chosen by a higher power than you, Teacher, and I won’t give you the satisfaction.Good DAY!”With that, he left the window.

It was a split-second.For a moment, Gandalf seemed huge, His white outfit blinding for a second.

“ **GET BACK HERE** ,” Gandalf said, not shouting, but his voice reverberated throughout Isengard.To Josh and Leonardo’s amazement, Saruman seemed pulled, drawn back to the window, looking as if he had struggled against an invisible, grappling hand.His look was that of surprised horror.

“I didn’t say you could leave,” Gandalf said, angrily.“I’m not done yet.I gave you a chance to come clean, to apologize, but you decided instead to keep at your foolishness.And, true, you were chosen, all those years ago, but choices can be unmade.Curunir will no longer walk with you.You have been cast from the Istari Order.”

Josh felt a breeze, aloft with electricity and power, fly against him for a moment.Then he saw a scepter-like staff fall to the ground.It was angular and held a white stone at its end.

Josh didn’t know much about the Istari, but he knew that if Saruman was cast out, he was no longer a threat.He was vulnerable.

Gandalf had asked for Josh not to take action against him…out of…pity?Pity for what Saruman was to become without his power?Josh tried to think how an existence without his own power would feel, and then understood.

He shot up to the window, with Saruman, diminished, his cloak losing its iridescent color, like a dying mayfly’s wing.His face was that of ruin.

“One more thing,” Josh said.He grabbed Saruman by his collar.The El-aurian did nothing but stare at Josh, his field glowing around him. “If you set foot off this planet, you will be arrested for crimes against this planet, the Federation and Starfleet.I suggest you _never_ leave this tower again, if you know what’s good for you.”

He climbed higher, to the ledge where Grima was hauling a strange, black, round, polished stone.He ineffectually threw it at Josh, falling far short of his distance.The sphere crashed below, shattering the stone steps.Josh pushed himself in Grima Suder’s face and sneered.“The same goes for you.You’re guilty of the death of Varria Reid and stealing the Tablets of Turnax.You’ll never be able to set foot in Federation space again without coming to justice.Was it worth it?”

By this point, Grima was well frothing at the mouth with frustration and anger.Josh smiled, mockingly, and returned to the ground.

“That was wise; thank you,”Gandalf said as they got back on their horses.He held the stone in his hand, and began to conceal it.“We will return to Edoras, and plan our next move. But no matter what happens, I know what your plans will be.”

“Gondor,” Josh said.“With or without the Riders.We need Adam with us.I haven’t heard from him in this whole time that we were separated…over a month.”

“He is beyond my sight or speculation,” Gandalf said.“But he is alive, no doubt, awaiting our word.”

 

Another day took them back toward Helm’s Deep.Josh and Leonardo stayed there, operating the Sit Room, awaiting Gandalf’s word to fly.The rest continued to Edoras.Théoden hailed them as they departed.

“Farewell, Joshua Falling-star!” Théoden said.“Your aid is invaluable, the two of you!Farewell!”

Joshua walked back into the Sit Room and sat down.“Ahh,” Josh said, as he checked the sensor display and saw that Orthanc was no longer the purple alert symbol it was when he left for Isengard. 

“Are you sure you’ve gotten everything out of this place?” Leonardo asked. 

Josh ducked out into the corridor outside of the Sit Room, then walked up to Leo.“Actually, there are a few things that Gandalf didn’t want to share with Théoden.Let me show you.

He secured the doors, then opened a central console, and pressed a few more buttons.At the southern side of the Room, directly from the big viewscreen, there was a seemingly ornamental hallway, three meters from the door.Upon Joshua’s activation, the hallway lit up.He led Leonardo down the hallway which turned into a stairwell which led them to an octagonal room.the room was empty except for another console which looked completely alien.a spherical device on a stalk stood in the center of the console. 

“The Númenóreans had dealings with the Iconians; another ancient race,” Josh explained.“The Iconians never really used starships, but we think they used a network of subspace portals…gateways…to get where they wanted to go.Now the Númenóreans used starships, but,” Josh said, pointing at the gate, “There might have been some sort of exchange of technology.”

“Where does it go?” Leo asked, guardedly. 

“Probably everywhere on Arda,” Josh said.Before them, the vista changed, from rolling hills before white mountains, to a great city by the river, to a sickly green-lit tower, to a great black volcano, spitting out fire.

Leo looked expectantly at the gateway as Josh marveled.“The Iconians were known as the ‘demons of air and darkness,’” Josh explained.“They appeared out of nowhere and conquered planets that way.I wonder what the Númenóreans did with it, though.”

“Mass transit from base to base,” Leo said.“Maybe they used it to get to their ships from orbit.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of transporter technology,” Josh said, nodding.“Maybe.”

Leonardo was silent for a minute.Josh looked at the turtle, lost in thought.“Are you thinking of using that thing?”

“One of us needs to get a toehold into Gondor,” Leonardo said.“Between my looks and your flight, neither of us have the advantage of trust, unless you count my skill with the sword.”

“Now wait a minute!” Josh exclaimed.“Sending you out there without backup is not a good idea.If we all put our lot with Gandalf—”

“Gandalf is going it alone!” Leo shot back.“It’s obvious that he doesn’t really need any of us.Not yet.You saw what he can do.He’s only displaying a tenth of his power.”

“What do you plan to do once you’re in Gondor?” Josh asked. 

“Gain the trust of their leaders, their scouts.Maybe they’ll take me to this Steward of theirs.Barring that, I’ll reach your friend.He’ll want to know how you’re doing.”

 _Adam_ , Josh thought.“Okay, you have a point.But—”

“Are you, like, worried that I’m not coming back?” Leo asked. 

“I’ve already made and lost a friend in this mess,” Josh said.

“I’ll be fine,” Leo said.He walked over to the gateway.It displayed a small island in the ocean.After a moment, it showed a space vista over Arda. 

“If the pattern holds, Osgiliath will be next, then this Minas Ithil, then Minas Anor, according to the display name,” Josh said.

“Minas Ithil looked abandoned,” Leo said, and shuddered.“And haunted.”

“Minas Anor is big; it also looked heavily fortified,” Josh said.“If things go badly, it’ll be hard to get out.”

Osgiliath lay before him.It’s structures were similar to the Hornburg, but more ornate, with sculptural arches and flourishes.“Well,” Leo said.“This is it.”

“Here’s the horsehead badge,” Josh said, giving him the comm badge which had been passed around during the last week too many times to count.It was a sleek, stylized, front-sided silver horse head, with a gold oval shield.Leo took it and placed it on the left-hand side of his _do_ chestplate.

“His name is Adam Reid the third,” Josh told him.He’ll have brown hair, and rather unusual blue eyes.They’re like midnight blue.Betazoids have dark irises.He’ll either be in his Starfleet uniform, like mine, or dressed like Aragorn, a Ranger.”

Leo nodded, and grabbed his swords.“Tell Théoden my gratitude, Joshua-san,” he said, his voice tinged with formal Japanese.“ _Sayonara_.”

“ _Sayonara_ ,” Josh repeated, and Leonardo walked into the gateway.Quickly, Josh turned the Gateway off and walked out of the Sit Room. 

They will have made camp at Dunharrow by now, Josh thought.“I’ll make my way to them, and tell Gandalf what I’ve found, and that Leonardo’s gone off ahead, and then we can move forward.”

He walked to the inner court.Gamling, who remained behind, walked up to him and said, “What news?”

“I’m leaving to meet Théoden, Gamling,” said Josh.“The Hornburg is yours.”

“What of the Situation Room?”asked Gamling.

“Do what you will,” Josh replied.“You can’t really harm the controls anyway. Well,” he said with a shrug, “Get up, get out, get loose, as they say!”

With that, he shot into the air, bound for Théoden’s camp.

 

 

 

On Earth, Buffi K’gar slept in her bed in the Cainian embassy.Her dreams were troubling. Her dreams of late had the same themes.Damar, Raphael, Gandalf, and another, much more sinister figure.She slept fitfully as Gandalf attempted to tell her something important, but she would not let him speak.She kicked him away as the last word was uttered, and the dark figure took her by the hand.They danced together, fascinating the Cainian girl, but it was a twisted end.The more they danced, the more Buffi resembled her evil partner.She looked at herself as though through a dark mirror, and could not bear to look.Then Raphael grabbed her, and they jumped from rooftop to rooftop in Manhattan, while the dark figure followed. 

 

“Oh!”

She woke up, breathing heavily.She looked at the clock on the wall.It’s hands glowed red, showing it was not even three in the morning.

“Ohh, god,” she groaned, placing her hound-like muzzle in her hands.“Another one of those dreams.”

She turned on the lamp on her bedside table, and sat up straight.As her hand left the lampshade, she suddenly looked at the relic by her lamp.Black glass, it seemed.Her father brought it from a dig near the Romulan border.Ancient Númenórean, she remembered.He created a three-pointed stand for it, and gave it to the Embassy a number of years ago.Buffi looked into the glass, and realized that it was no longer solid black.Veins of orange-red bled through the glass, glowing and throbbing as if it had a life of its own.

“What the hell is going on here?” she said, and took the glass sphere into her hands.Then—

 

She saw things.

 

A gnarled, gauze-wrapped creature rose before her.“Transform this decayed form to Mumm-ra, the ever….LIVING!” it growled, before it transformed into a horrible, blue-skinned behemoth.

 

A strange, creature covered in dark black-and-orange fur stood before her in a strange, crab-leg shaped chamber.“Give me the might, the muscle…the menace…of Mon….STAAARRRR!” it shrieked as its fur gave way to orange metal.He summoned a great space creature, which charioted him away for evil.

 

A great, irresistible eye looked at her.“This dainty is not for your eyes.I will soon send for it.Just say that!”

With effort, she looked away, but still more things she saw. 

 

A Bajoran Cleric in a temple, looking at a device with reverence.

 

A Cardassian scientist, touching the surface of it with an instrument.

 

Damar. 

It was not the Damar she knew.He was a leader of men seemingly.But a strange creature with pale blue eyes and gills along his jaw looked over his shoulder.

 

A tortured man, on the side of a volcano, holding a chain to his chest

 

Raphael. 

And his four brothers.All wearing Starfleet-like uniforms and brandishing weapons.She thought she saw her brother, Bruffi, grown up, and a leader himself.

 

She saw herself, flying through space, wrath in her eyes.

Her hands around a Klingon leader.

 

She saw a beautiful woman standing in a holographic grid, asking her questions.

 

She saw another woman, holding her hand up, which had a beautiful pearlescent ring.“Look away now, ere you are forever trapped within the stone,” she said.

 

When Buffi looked away, the memories and visions of what she saw began to fade, as if they were a dream.However, she took a cloth out of her dresser drawer and draped it over the stone.

 

BEEP.

 

Her computer console rang out with an unexpected page.She looked at it: Incoming message,Text Only.

It was from Corat Damar,Cardassian Central Command.

 

Buffi felt a chill.Though her recollections were fading fast, she knew she saw Damar. 

Buffi did not believe in coincidences.


	8. Unrecognizable To Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Ithilien, Both Faramir and Adam's quality are put to the test.

Gaji was a Ranger now.

 

Dressed in a brown leather armor and wearing a green cloak, The Easterling patrolled along Ithilien with Faramir, Captain of Gondor.The son of the steward seemed to bear him little grudge, mostly to the fact that he had been vouched for by his former captor, Starfleet officer Adam T. Reid.He was alongside him in the forest, and both were looking for signs of further incursions into Mordor.It had been almost a week since they were taken by the Rangers and Adam agreed to lend them his and Gaji’s services. Faramir gave him a more Gondorian name; Adam agreed to be called ‘Anborn’.Gaji was invaluable in the sense that he could detect the signs of encampment of his own people, and that of orcs. 

Adam could not sense anything other than the other men around him.A total of five, including Faramir and Gaji.His outfit was hooded and his face was smeared with dark inks to create camouflage. His Betazoid sense told him that, except for himself and Gaji, the others were rather calm and confident.This was rather old hat to them now; they were professionals.

However, his sense was rather dodgy when it came to sensing orcs.He was unable to truly sense them as actual beings, more as a disturbing presence.It wasn’t unexpected that Sauron would custom-create an army that would be relatively invisible to telepaths (or in his case, empaths), especially in a land of men descended from Númenóreans and Elves.However, it was damned inconvenient for _him_.

Their patrol sent them south, back toward the Anduin.The woods were easy enough to traverse, with clearings and open fields of grass, which had to be secured before they moved on.It made the hike drag on.Adam had some experience with archery, but the more sophisticated bows used at Starfleet academy were only slightly more ergonomically sound than the hand-carved longbows that Faramir’s men used, seemingly with ease.Adam pulled the bowstring taut with gloved fingers, sweeping the area for anything suspicious.Satisfied, Faramir gave a hand signal: The all-clear.The five Rangers then moved on.

Faramir.Adam admired the Steward’s son, and learned from him the inner mechanisms of Gondor from the man, who had a rather unique perspective from an outsider’s view.He was not favored in Denethor’s eyes, and regret haunted every mention of him.Adam wasn’t sure, due to the complex emotions Faramir exhibited, but there was a friction, a tension between the Starfleet Officer and the Ranger that Adam could not pinpoint.

“Recently, an Orc scout party infiltrated itself from the other side of the River,” Faramir told Adam.“Their markings weren’t that of Sauron.They bore the sigil of a white hand, and had rather sophisticated armor and weaponry.”

“A white hand?” Adam said. “That’s the mark of Saruman.”

“That’s the only explanation,” Faramir said.“But it doesn’t make sense; true, he hasn’t been benevolent toward Gondor in the past, but to have his own orcs and be in the White council!—”

“No, listen to me,” Adam said, urgently.“Before the _Hanson_ was lost, I beamed into Isengard and attempted to talk to Saruman.He’s been corrupted by Sauron, Faramir. He does have his own cadre of orcs.How long ago was this ambush?”

“Within the last week,” Faramir replied.“If what you’re saying is correct…”

Faramir was unable to finish his thought.A high-pitched screech permeated the air, causing all to clap their hands to their ears.Gaji was brought to his knees, and he began to shake.

“It is the Dark Ones!” He exclaimed in a tremulous, high-pitched wail.

Adam looked all around, and then looked up as the sunlight was blocked out. 

Wings.Evil wings that he remembered from his time in the Dead Marshes. 

Nazgûl. 

Though his head was covered in a deep black cloak, The high-servant of Sauron on his foul beast looked directly at Adam, chilling him at the core.He recognized the Starfleet officer, and Adam knew it was the same one he bested nearly eight days ago.

“Oh, shit,” he cursed as he made sure his SilverHawk buckle was secure. 

“ARMOR UP!”

With that, the armor appeared over him.Faramir looked annoyed.“What are you doing?You will reveal our position!”

“He already knows,” Adam said.“Faramir, I’ll draw him off.You get your men back to cover.He mustn’t know where you’re based.”

“Anborn!” Faramir exclaimed over the loud hum of his jet repulsors lifting him off the ground, in pursuit of the Black Rider.

“WING IT!”As he lifted into the air, the triangle-shaped devices mounted on his shoulders extended into a massive set of metallic wings, filling the other Rangers with awe.Within moments, Adam was gone.

Faramir frowned as he left.

“Double back,” he told the others.“Due northeast.”

 

In the air, Adam felt, one had a true advantage against stopping the Nazgûl.On their winged mounts, large, bizarre dinosaur-like things, they were dependent in the air.Without them, they fell back down to earth, without wings of their own.

Unlike Adam.

The Nazgûl did not seem to notice Adam’s presence, not even until he fired his first shot, from his arm cannon.It struck at the beast’s tail, right along the spine.

The beast reacted.More out of annoyance than pain, it craned its serpentine neck at Adam and screeched.Armored, however, its ill effects were dulled.However, it made his ears ring.

That was full stun! Adam thought.Last time, the thing went down almost immediately.Somehow, it had adapted.

He adjusted the setting.Brought it to a much higher, more deadlier level, and fired again.The burst was red, and it struck the beast squarely in the ribs, radiating through its body, with a dark red glow.

While it seemed to jostle the Dark Rider a bit, he still did not go down.

Adam was puzzled.He needed a fresh perspective.He turned on the sensors in his helmet, and trained them on the Fell Beast.

What he read from his heads-up display shocked him.

The creature was generating his own deflector field, organically!

From his sensor field, under the hood of the Black Rider, Adam could discern a face.

It was out of phase from normal reality, he read.Enough to affect the physical world, but intangible.

A choice lay before Adam: could he study the Nazgûl and his mount long enough to harm them, or would he learn just enough to stop him here and then?

Adam gritted his teeth.He searched the beast for its specific shield frequency.As he did, he did not notice until it was almost too late that the Dark Rider had doubled back on him.

He looked up, and saw the Nazgûl’s sword raised.He ducked just in time to feel a cold wind blow over his armor as the blade came within millimeters from his helmet.He primed the phasers in his shoulder guards and fired at the sword, causing sparks to fly from it. Inside his mask, the face under the hood became more clear as the Nazgûl’s temporal phase variance became more specific.A pale, twisted, distorted face sneered at him under the black cloak.

Adam looked down and realized that his sortie had drifted him miles away from Faramir, miles down the Anduin.The challenge before him was clear: Was there a way to physically affect the Nazgûl?Could he change his own phase variance, or that of his weapons, to strike at him and his beast?

No time for that now.The best he could hope to do, before he rejoined Faramir, would be to try to breach the Beast’s innate shields and bring him down.

He doubled back on the Nazgûl, wings extended, arms outreached.All of his weapons primed and ready, but doing so carried a risk.His armor was not passive; its power supply was finite.Though how it was able to power phasers and sensors and propulsion was a mystery, doing so all at once might tax the Silverhawk armor to its limits.

Adam was willing to take that risk.

 

He began by firing his shoulder weapons at the beast.While not precisely at Starfleet’s scale, it approximately corresponded to setting five: Most personal force fields were disrupted when subjected to it in less than a minute.

It seemed to genuinely hurt the beast, its power feedback hitting its nervous system hard.For the first time, the Rider was shaken by his mount. To bring home his strike, Adam grazed the rider, his now razor-sharp wings just missing the Nazgûl.He wheeled around and went for his second run.His second volley came from his arm cannon, making precision strikes on the beast’s neck and wing joints.Its personal shield was weakened, and the phaser strike brought the beast down, apparently rendered unconscious.Adam saw the look on the Nazgûl’s face as he went down on the west side of the Anduin, glaring at him, giving him little doubt in his mind:

Adam had made a mortal enemy from an immortal creature.

 

 

The trip back was quiet, and Adam had time, too much time, to think.There were nine ring wraiths.He’d had two run-ins; _was_ it the same one?He was rather sure that the beast he mounted were not the same; not without some incredible ability to heal and adapt to the damage that Adam had been giving out. 

 

By the time Adam arrived back at Henneth Annûn, Faramir waited him at the top.His arms were folded, and a stern look was on his face.“You went off on your own,” Faramir said, disapprovingly, “And you left us alone.”

“I took its attention off of the group, and defeated his mount, leaving him stranded on the other side of the river,” Adam argued. 

“You did not await my order!” Faramir cried.

“Hey, look,”Adam replied, glaring at the Captain of Gondor, “I know for a fact that ring wraiths are beyond your men.I barely held my own.The only way for you to get out of there alive was for me to divert it.”

“You gave your word to follow my orders,” Faramir reminded him.

“Maybe I did, but when the Nazgûl factor in, I know best.I learned ten new things about them in that last encounter alone.That’s data I’m willing to share with you.”Adam looked away, then looked back, defiantly.“Anything else?”

“No,” Faramir said, then smiled.“I just wanted to get that unpleasant business out of the way before I told you.We’ve just found rather interesting people in the woods.”

“Don’t tell me; they’re about this high,” Adam said, feeling his face grow slack, placing his hand up to his thigh.

“What do you know of these…halflings?” Faramir asked. 

“They call themselves hobbits,” Adam said, correcting him.“Also known as _Holbytla_ , _Perriniath_ , and, yes, halflings.They occupy a region of land between the Misty Mountains and the Gulf of Lune called the Shire.They’re agrarian—farmers—peaceful people.They’re kept safe by Dunedain Rangers in that region.Some hobbits live in nearby Bree, but they do little trade.”

“Did they set out with my brother?” Faramir asked.

“Why aren’t you asking _them_?” Adam countered.

“I did; you’re corroborating their story,” Faramir tersely replied.

“According to Elrond, four hobbits were part of the Company,” Adam said.Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Samwise Gamgee,” Adam hesitated a bit, and finished, “And Frodo Baggins.”

“They claim that they had no knowledge of my brother’s fate when they parted ways,” Faramir said.“Is that true?”

“Yes,” Adam said.He himself found out how Frodo departed after Boromir, under the influence of the One Ring, began to harass and attack the ring-bearer just before Frodo rabbited, setting off for the East alone, presumably with Samwise.

“What is their business in Ithilien?” Faramir asked.

Adam shrugged.“That is beyond my knowledge,” he replied, cryptically.

Faramir’s eyes became slits.“Your face mirrors Baggins’s,” Faramir said, his face marred with contempt.“You know more than you say.”

“They are on an important task,” Adam said.“They must be allowed to complete it.They go on behalf of the decision of the White Council, a decision your brother agreed to oblige.”

“And Boromir is dead for it,” Faramir said.“Would it not be logical to conclude that it was an ill-made decision?”

“Wise man once said, Faramir,” Adam said, “The good of the many outweigh the good of the few—”

“—Or the one,” Faramir finished.“Your Ambassador Spock.”Faramir switched gears.He was going nowhere with Adam on this argument.“There was another companion with them; on that they have denied all knowledge of.Strange, he was, with pale skin, and large, lantern-like eyes.Frog-like he was, and bare, save for spare covering.”

 _Lantern eyes_ , Adam thought to himself. _Frog-like.Could it be?_ “Is it possible that he was trailing them himself?Not part of their company?” he asked.

“No,” Faramir said, shaking his head.“One of my men distinctly reported some sort of interaction between him and Baggins.A deference.”Faramir immediately saw Adam’s confusion. “This is news to you.”

“Where is the creature now?” Adam asked.

“He’s very close by.He hunts for fish in the nearby stream.Eventually, I will capture him as well, using him as a bargaining chip to get more from Baggins.He reacted with much protection in his lies.”Faramir looked at Adam and asked, “Did you want to speak to them?”

Adam looked ashen, and shook his head.“I don’t think I can.I cannot reveal myself to them.I know you don’t understand, but….”

“In some strange way, it makes sense,” Faramir said with a smirk.“Do you feel up to the capture of the other creature?”

“Oh…oh, yes, I think I’m well capable,” Adam said.

“Good.I’ll leave you and Gaji to it, then.”With that, Faramir retreated back down into the tunnel down into Henneth Annûn, leaving Adam to realize what had happened.

Gaji’s blindfold came off around the same time that the two halflings’ blindfolds did the same.Halflings were mythical creatures in his native land of Rhûn, and tales of their appearance varied.One more famous story described them of having the legs of rabbits, complete with tail.These two were more mundane, however.Only the tops of their clearly manlike feet were covered in fine, curly hair.Their heads were similarly curly; one had dark hair, the other, honey-brown.From his sentry post, he overheard them.

“I don’t like this one bit, Mr. Frodo,” the honey-haired one said.He was more sturdy than the other, but was obviously the subordinate one.“The one fellow spoke about the Shire!He knew Merry and Pippin’s name!”

“I know, Sam,” Frodo replied.“And he knew of the White Council, and he spoke of the company out of Rivendell.”

“But he didn’t tell Faramir about the Ring!” Sam hissed.“He told the tale, but left out the Ring!”

“And he gave counsel to allow us to continue,” Frodo’s face was inscrutable to Gaji.

Adam returned into the refuge, sneaking a glimpse at the two hobbits before moving to Gaji.

“Mind your words, Anborn” Gaji said to Adam.“Their hearing is quite acute.”

Adam nodded, then moved to Faramir and one of his ranking men, who looked around a map.

“Edoras has been emptied,” he told Faramir.“They have made their stand at Helm’s Deep.”He indicated it on the map.

“If their Riders can’t be mustered in time,” Adam said, “There’s nothing stopping Saruman from sending a flood of orcs across the river.”

“Our sources in Rohan have indicated that nearly two thousand riders were mustered.We know not of the outcome.”

Adam suddenly realized: _Josh!_ “Any reports of anything unusual?” He asked the Ranger. 

Faramir picked up on it.“Any reports resembling a Man, flying through the air, a golden trail behind him?”

“Only days before, A golden streak ran along the White Mountains, north to Nan Curunir, then back to Edoras,” he said.

“That means that he made it to Edoras,” Adam said.“I hope he’s all right.”

“What is his full name?” Faramir asked.

“Lieutenant Joshua Maurice Reid,” Adam said.

“Are you kin?” Faramir asked.He had guessed it was so earlier, but Adam gave no real reply.

“Actually, we…” Adam said, beginning the familiar spiel he had to say to explain that He and Josh were actually very distant cousins with the same name, and by rights, Josh’s name really should have been Reid-LeBeau, but he really, really didn’t want to get into it with Faramir, and with the two hobbits listening.“Let’s just say it’s complicated.”

Faramir must have caught Adam’s sly glance at Frodo and Sam, because he nodded discreetly. 

“We can’t do anything about Rohan from here,” the other Ranger said, trying to speak above the conversation.“We must look to our own borders.Faramir, Orcs are on the move.Sauron is marshaling an army.”

“It’s true,” Adam replied.“Gaji was posted at the Black gate, and he was one of hundreds of platoons and divisions.”

“Easterlings and Haradrim both,” The other Ranger amended.

Faramir nodded; Adam had told him this already.“How many?”

“Thousands,” Adam replied.“And they’re pulling more every day.Sauron’s got some sort of contract with Rhun and Umbarhaven, apparently.A pledge of distribution of land, riches, technology, for their alliance.”

“Southrons,” Faramir muttered.“Who’s covering the river to the north?”

“We pulled five hundred men at Osgiliath,” The ranger replied.Adam made a face.

“That’s a drop in the bucket.What’s the tactical importance of Osgiliath if it’s not inhabited anymore?”

“The simple fact that it’s ours,” Faramir replied, with annoyance.

“Well, if the city’s attacked, you won’t hold it,” Adam said, simply.

Adam saw the wheels of logic turn in Faramir’s head.It reminded him of Joshua’s thinking as he got bits and pieces of tactical data in the battle sims he used to engage in with his correspondence with his Klingon friend, Karg.

Faramir wheeled around the map.“Saruman attacks from Isengard—”

“—Assuming the Rohirrim fail,” Adam interjected.

“Be still!Isengard from the West, Sauron from Mordor, bolstered by the East and South.Gondor is too weak for this.Sauron will make his move soon.”

There was a somber mood as they mulled this over.Adam was quiet for a time, then spoke up, trying to continue the conversation.

“I actually have a sister back home,” Adam said.“Joy’s her name.”

“Is she in Starfleet as well?” Faramir asked.

“She’s only thirteen,” Adam said.“And dad spoils her rotten.”

“I don’t have any younger brothers or sisters,” Faramir said.“Only Boromir, and he’s gone.”

Adam felt the waves of sadness wash over him from Faramir, and it took all of his resolve not to shed a tear himself.“Joshua and I aren’t brothers, but we grew up together. In some ways, we’re closer than brothers.If something happened to him…God…”

Faramir cleared his throat.“When you go north for…what we talked about, I need for you to look out for Haradrim.They were astride two mûmakil, making their way east.”

“And while we were tracking the mûmakil,” the assistant Ranger said, “All the while we felt as if eyes were upon us as well.Beware.”

“Mûmakil,” Adam said.“Giant elephants.And me without peanuts.”

“Also,” Faramir cautioned, “Do not employ your wings until you are well away from the Refuge.To do so would compromise the secrecy of our location.”

Adam nodded.“Gaji!” he called.“Are you ready?”

The Easterling nodded.“I have the blindfold.”

Faramir waved his hand.“Nay.He’s proven trustworthy out of your company, Reid.He need not wear it.”

Adam smiled.“Let’s go,” He said, lifting his large hood over his head.

 

The walk out of Henneth Annûn took about an hour, or four kilometers.From there, Adam activated his armor and used something he and Gaji had created.They attached a harness to Adam’s armor and, strapped the other end to Gaji, ending the awkwardness of the Starfleetofficer simply holding on to the Easterling over the woods. In theory, it acted not unlike a hang glider.It worked well, with Gaji holding on to the leather grips.As Adam flew them over the treetops, he began to see signs of displacement in the trees.

“Gaji!” he said.“I need to get us higher!”

“Do it!” Gaji called back.

He raised up, higher and higher, and Adam saw it.

A straight line of crushed trees, coming from the southwest.

“I think we found our mûmakil,” Adam said.

“Things that big make their own trails,” Gaji added.“Do you see where they are?”

“I can get us to where the trail ends,” Adam said.

With stomach-turning speed, Adam dived into the cleft in the forest where the beasts had tromped through.The forest floor was littered with smashed tree trunks and flattened underbrush, roughly twenty meters wide. 

The mûmakil trail continued on for nearly three more kilometers before Adam had to make a decision.Once he and Gaji found the Haradrim and their beasts, what then?He motioned with his hands so the Easterling realized he was making a turn, and dived into the woods.

Gaji ducked his head as leaves and twigs began to assault him. 

“Hang on!”Adam cried out.He found an outcropping a hundred meters from where the trail appeared to stop, and landed there.

Gaji hastily disconnected himself from the harness, and both crouched down.

“You seem more interested in the mûmakil than the creature,” Gaji remarked.

“To be honest, I’m in no hurry to find him.If he’s who I think he is…”

Gaji’s almond-shaped eyes gazed at him.“What is he?”

Adam looked ahead.“If I tell you, Gaji, you have to promise not to tell Faramir what I share.”

Gaji nodded quickly.“Of course.”

“Do you know anything about Rings of Power?”Adam asked.

Gaji frowned.“Only whisperings.They say that the nine wraiths became what they are because of their Rings.”

“That’s about right.Nine of them were given to Men, and they were corrupted immediately.Seven were given to the Dwarves, and it brought the Dragons of the North upon them.Three were given to the Elves, and they’ve become stuck, unable to die, unable to grow.”

“They are all of them cursed,” Gaji said, with wide eyes.

Adam nodded.“They were promised power over their own race, but they didn’t realize who was really pulling the strings.”

Gaji shook his head.“Sauron did it all along?”

“There was another ring made,” Adam told Gaji.“One that held sway over all others, one for Sauron himself to use.Four thousand years ago, Elves and the Númenóreans fought a battle in Mordor, and Sauron was defeated.But the ring wasn’t destroyed.It continued on, and while it became lost, Sauron regained a lot of power.During that time, he formed alliances with the Easterlings, and the Southrons.He makes orcs in Mordor, and somehow he finds a way to corrupt a very powerful wizard.You with me so far?”

“Yes,” Gaji said, frowning.“But what became of the master ring?”

“It made its way through to the Gladden fields, and it was found by a person named Sméagol.And he took the ring deep into the Misty Mountains, and the Ring affected him in ways that…well, left him ruined.Then the ring moved on, and found its way further east, and was about to do the same to its next wearer, when Gandalf realized what it was.He sent a hobbit named Frodo Baggins with the ring to Rivendell.He pledged to take the Ring to be destroyed.”

“Oh!”Gaji’s breathing increased in excitement.“Frodo the little person, he has the Ring?”

“That’s most likely,” Adam said.“And, as much as I trust Faramir, I don’t think it’s a good idea that he knows just how close the Ring is to him.”

“Because he is the Father of Denethor,” Gaji said. 

“That’s just too much power, too much temptation,” Adam said, shaking his head.“Just so you understand, Gaji…nobody can touch this thing without being affected.Hobbits, Gandalf said, might be slightly immune, but only up to a point.He thought that humans…” Adam’s voice trailed away.

“That is what you are?” Gaji asked.“You’re a human?”

Adam nodded, and didn’t look at Gaji.

“You…” Gaji said, more to himself.“At some point, it could have been you.”

Adam wiped his eyes.“Maybe.I don’t know.”

Adam was silent for a second, which allowed the two to feel it.

B-WHOOMP.

“Ah, here we go,” Adam said.With his SilverHawk armor still on, he activated his helmet sensors, which located the source of the tremors. 

What Adam saw awed him.

The mûmakil were indeed elephant-like, but with shorter ears and more angular features in the front of their heads and slightly forward-facing eyes.Like Terran elephants, they held tusks, but the mûmakil had three times more pairs.The two larger pair of tusks twisted outward, resembling that of a mastodon, the third pair came from the lower jaw, pointing down like knives.Two other projections jutted out from the mûmakil’s cheekbones. 

“I’d hate to see mating season in Umbar,” Adam breathed.“These things look like they fight to the death with those things.”

The mûmakil lumbered past them.Atop the three mûmakil bulls’ backs appeared to be a structure for the Haradrim to ride, large enough to carry ten men.Adam and Gaji watched on, absorbed by the sight.So much so, that Adam jumped almost two feet into the air when he felt a pointy tap on his helmet.

Gaji spun around, his daggers in hand.“Adam!” He exclaimed.“Haradrim!”

Adam turned to see a man dressed in animal skins brandishing a spear at his head.His skin was deep chocolate brown, and his face was decorated with various piercings on his nose, ears and lips.Both his bared teeth and the whites of his eyes were blazing bright.

“Who are you?” He demanded, “And why are you watching my mûmak?”

Before Adam could reply, Gaji snapped the pointed edge off the spear with his dagger.“We will answer no questions so long as we are threatened,” Gaji snarled at the Haradrim.He leaped, seemingly up into the air, quickly subduing his opponent.

Adam was impressed with Gaji’s reflexes, and his ability to disarm.He quickly asked, “Why are you following us?Who are you?”

“I only follow my mûmakil,” he spat back.“I am Zanie, their master!”

Gaji looked at Zanie with amazement.“You are the one who can tame any animal!” He exclaimed.“You tame animals for carnivals and circus shows!”

“Yes,” Zanie growled, “And for that alone!Those are my mûmakil; they were stolen from me!”

Adam knew that Zanie told the truth.His Betazoid sense of empathy could sense no duplicity.“Then you’re in league with friends,” He told the beast-master.“This is Gaji, from Rhûn, and I am Commander Adam Reid; we act on behalf of Gondor.”

“I care not,” Zanie sighed with disdain.“I care not for government and allegiance.Those are my animals; I raised them from calves and they have been twisted against their true nature!”Zanie’s eyes seemed to glow with conviction.

“Okay, okay, I believe you,” Adam said.“Gaji, let him up.”

Gaji did so, and told Zanie, “We spotted a group of three large mûmakil, and a smaller one.Is it a youngster?”

“No,” Zanie said.“The three are bull mûmakil and the smaller one is the cow, the female.The tragedy is that she carries a calf.”

Adam squinted and glared at the group, quickly leaving.Surely enough, he felt an extra elephantine presence.“I bet they can’t even tell.How soon before she calves?”

“I cannot tell,” Zanie said.“Animals cannot be made evil.but evil things can be done with them.I fear that my mûmakil will be slaughtered in the battles to come.And all of the Eye’s other animals—great, wondrous creatures from the wild—forever tainted by the stigma of being used for evil, hunted to the ends of the earth, made no more.I have seen.The Spirits have sent me dreams.The old man of the forest has sent me to speak for those who have no voice—”

“Old man?” Adam asked. “Was it the grey wizard?”

“Incánus?” Zanie said, smiling“No.The Brown Wizard who fights for the animals and the trees.”

 _Radagast_ , Adam realized.“He sent you.”

“He told me what had happened.I alone decided to track the beasts and attempt to save them.”

Gaji looked at the sky, which began to darken.“The hour grows late.”

“We need to get back,” Adam said.“I’m sorry we delayed you, Zanie.”

He shook his head.“I’ve tracked the herd for leagues untold.And through this forest, they make themselves known.”Zanie got up, and picked up his spearhead.“You should know, a strange creature makes its way back to the Rangers’ refuge.You should meet up with him tonight if you go back right now.”

Gaji stood up to Zanie.“It was an honor to meet you.Perhaps our paths will cross again, before World’s End.”

Zanie nodded, and walked off.“Until then.”

Adam remained crouched, while Gaji watched the beast-master leave.“We should double back, then.Faramir wished us to keep track of the Gollum, and it seems that Zanie saved us some face.”

Adam nodded, but seemed reluctant, unsure.Gaji looked at him, cocked his head and asked, “Does he frighten you so?”

“The Betazoid part of me picks up on strong emotions…especially pain.I’m just worried that I can’t handle it.”

“Fear not.I will shore up your fears.”

With that, they replaced the harness upon Adam’s armor and soon was airborne.But Adam couldn’t shake the feeling that Gollum was something that he wasn’t ready for.Frodo hadn’t bore the ring even six months, but the deep-seated readings he received from the hobbit ate at Adam.Secretly, though he daren’t admit it to himself, he was glad that it was Frodo who took the Ring to Mordor, and not himself.

 

The trip back was relatively silent. Anor, Arda’s sun, began to touch the horizon and turn orange-red, revealing the morning star, Earendil, in the clear eastern sky. Though he knew that Faramir would not approve, he did show Gaji the pool below the Refuge at a rather high height before landing a kilometer away.All the while, he looked for signs of Gollum. 

It was Gaji who spotted him, looking intently into the pool, for…fish?

Adam made his way to the top of the refuge, leaving Gaji to keep watch over the strange, pale person frolicking in the waters.At the top, Faramir met him. 

“You corralled him back here.Good,” he said approvingly.

“There’s that, and we sighted the Haradrim caravan,” Adam replied.“We also came across the man trailing them.He claims ownership of the mûmakil they use.He’s an animal tamer from the south.He may be an ally if we can get him to control those beasts.”

“A plan for tomorrow, but tonight we must decide upon this poor thing.”

Adam nodded.“There’s definitely a connection between him and Frodo.”

“He knew that Frodo was here—or was it something else?”

Adam was silent.

“Tell me,” Faramir demanded.

“I’m rather reluctant to open my mind to him,” Adam said.“What I’ve read thus far is…disturbing.”

“’Tis a strange creature,” Faramir replied in agreement.“But we must press the halfling’s hand.Will you do what I say?”

Adam nodded.

“Prepare your bow.I shall rouse Frodo and bring him to the pool.Have Gaji ensure that he stays in the pool.Have him watch him.Come with me.”

 

 

Adam kept his face hooded as Faramir went back inside the Refuge and gently woke the hobbit up.Adam, even now, kept his mental defenses up, not yet willing to open himself up to the disturbing effects, by proxy, to the Ring.Instead, he looked through the waterfall, the moonlight filtering through the water gently; Adam had time to note how lovely it looked.But the moment past quickly as he shored up Faramir’s rear as they climbed back up the turret-stair.As he did, he sensed a jumble of emotions behind him.Caution, worry—a dash of affection.He didn’t have to guess that Frodo’s companion and protector was shadowing him.

However, he made sure he reached his position before the rest, and Faramir met with himclose to the waterfall’s middle.From there, Adam could see the full moon clearly, and its effects upon the the peak of Mindolluin and the rest of Gondor’s White Mountains.Everything seemed as if coated in mercury or some other liquid metal. It reminded him of his Academy days, when he looked out of his dormitory window during his famous all-nighters and saw the full moon over the Bay.Everything—from the great Bridge to Starfleet Headquarters to the city itself—silver and silence covered the world.

 _Wonder if Josh is admiring the view?_ Adam thought.

As if on cue, a dark figure began cavorting below in the pool, darting in and out of the water.Adam allowed himself to open his mind up to Gaji’s presence, who was keeping watch on the opposite side of the bowl-shaped area.Faramir walked up to him, and, as if rehearsed, asked, “What would you say it is, Anborn?”

Adam looked at him, realizing right away what Faramir was doing.The classic “good cop/ bad cop” routine that he was taught in the academy for interviewing suspected criminals.One took the sympathetic road; the other, the hard line.Adam had no problem guessing which cop he was to be.He was the one with the bow.

“A squirrel, kingfisher?Are there black kingfishers along the Tuscarawas River, where you live?” Faramir asked.

“It’s definitely not a bird, whatever it is,” Adam said, as Anborn, playing the part.“Four limbs, and dives manwise; and good at it too.”Adam gave Faramir a mischievous look with his dark eyes.“Looks like it’s trying to make its way up here; I think we’ve been found out.Gaji’s on the other side with his throwing knives,” Adam said, nodding in the Easterling’s direction.“Whenever you give the word, Captain.”

Faramir, casually, turned to Frodo and asked, “Shall we shoot?”

Adam sensed Frodo’s panic, and Samwise’s deep-rooted anger. “No!” Frodo cried, though, Adam could tell, the other hobbit would have said, “Yes.”

“No, I beg you not to.”

“Do you know what this creature is?” Faramir asked the hobbit.Adam concentrated on the splashing down below.He made sure his part of the charade was believable and began to string his bow.

“Tell me why it should be spared.All this time, you’ve kept quiet over your absent partner, and I have abided for a time.Anborn and Gaji were sent to seek him, but he eluded even their most hawk-like eyes,” Faramir said, looking at Adam to see if he caught the reference.“Only now has Anborn traced him.But now he has come hereto Henneth Annûn.The penalty for what he has done is his life.So I ask again: Shall I shoot?”

“He’s our guide,” Frodo said, emphatically.“Through to Mordor.”

“Why is he here?” Faramir asked.“What guides him here to you?”

“He only wishes to eat—see, he only wants for fish,” Frodo said, gesturing at the creature below, who, indeed seemed to have caught one of insufficient size.He tossed it back, and splashed away.

By then, Adam’s bow was strung, and he had his arrow nocked; he had Gollum in his sights.It felt…right.Then again, he knew too much about Gollum not to know the wretched history of Gollum’s love affair with the Ring.“What are your orders, Captain?” Anborn the Bad Cop asked.“Coming unbidden to this place, death _is_ our law.”

“Well, wait a minute, Anborn,” Faramir the Good Cop said, staying Adam’s arrow.“This might be more complicated than it looks.”he looked at the hobbit.“Why should we spare him?”

“He is wretched and hungry,” Frodo said, pleading Gollum’s case.“He knows not his danger.And Gandalf would have asked you to, as he forbade the Elves from killing him.This creature is, in some way, bound up with my Errand.”

Adam whipped around at Gandalf’s mention.Adam wasn’t sure either why his godfather would want the creature to be kept safe other than good old fashioned pity, but he stayed his tongue.

“I will go and fetch him.If he runs, you can shoot me if I fail.I shall not run away.”

“Lead Frodo down to the bank, Anborn, and go softly.The thing has a nose and ears.Give me your bow.”

As Adam leaned in to give Faramir his bow, he whispered into his ear, “Have you ever considered a career in the theater?”

“Perhaps,” he replied cryptically.

Adam led Frodo through the labyrinthine paths to the edge of the pool.He did not look at the hobbit as he did so.The moon didn’t reach as far towards the bottom as it had higher up and only dim light caught the silver of the falls.

“So,” he said, trying to sound casually, “You are well known with Gandalf.”

“Known well to many, it would seem,” Frodo replied. 

“Indeed,” Adam said.“On this world and others.”

Frodo did not reply.

“Okay,” he said to Frodo, “Watch your right side.The edge of the pool curves up there, and you won’t be able to climb back up—unless your friend gives you a hand, that is.Don’t worry—There are bowmen close by, ready, even if you don’t see them.”

Frodo nodded and went off.Adam watched him as he went, but heard little but a guttural, slightly higher pitched hissing noises.He knew that there were at least two other sentries nearby and he made the ‘hold your fire’ gesture.As he did so, he whispered, “Armor on.”

With his armor, he was able to see in the dark.He saw as Frodo plead with Gollum.Adam zoomed in on him.humanoid, but changed—his eyes were large and heavy-lidded.Mere strings of hair hung from the top of his head.In fact everything about Gollum indicated decay and desiccation.His arms were spindly, but his hands were large, mirroring his legs.He reminded Adam of the diagram of the ‘sensuous man’ where a humanoid’s features were caricatured according to its sensory input.

He quietly put his armor away as Frodo began to lead Gollum to him.

As they approached close by, a horrible noise rang out.“Something’s here!Not a hobbit!”Adam tensed as he crept up behind him.“Wicked masster!” it shrieked and hissed.“Tricksy!False!”He turned around to face Adam.His eyes glowed green. 

Adam hesitated as he noticed that it was difficult to concentrate.Immediately, he slammed his mental defenses shut.He quickly closed the gap between them and bore down on Gollum, seizing him quickly.He held Gollum in a submission hold that Josh had taught him back in their school days, when Josh was on the SAGR wrestling team.Even so, Gollum attempted to bite and scratch him, and it took Gaji and two others to help.

“Hold still, or i will stick you full of pinions, as a pincushion!” Gaji exclaimed, brandishing his knives.

With that, Gollum fell limp in his arms, weeping.Gaji tied him and made sure the knots were tight and secure.

“Don’t hurt him!” Frodo cried.“Sméagol, they won’t hurt you, unless they hurt me too.Trust Master!”

As Gollum gave him a look of contempt and betrayal, he spat at him.Another Ranger put a cover over his eyes, and helped Adam as they carted the poor creature off.As they did, Adam looked over his shoulder at Faramir and Frodo and said, quietly, “I’m sorry.”

 

 

 

Gollum was placed, unceremoniously, into a corner, And Adam was placed on his guard.Gollum wept and muttered to himself, and Adam simply watched.

“Master tricksy, he is, my love,” he muttered.“He tricked you, made you think he liked you.I told you.”

A higher pitched voice wailed, “Master is my friend!He was only trying to help us, yes!”

Adam slowly realized that there were two distinct voices coming from the solitary being.His curiosity got the better of him.“Excuse me?”

“Cruel man speaks, my love, he wants to trick and play, yess,” Gollum growled.

“Oh,” Sméagol wailed, “Why won’t you leave us alone?”

“How many of you are there?” Adam asked.“In there?”

 

 

(Oh, that’s a good question,) A voice inside Adam’s head replied.

 

Adam looked around and was startled at the lack of color around him.Behind him, the waterfall veil had stopped.Even Gollum, seemingly in the midst of switching between his schizoid personalities, was still.

Adam stood up.“Who said that?”

“You’re a smart man,” the voice replied.“Figure it out.”

Adam turned and saw a hobbit behind him.

It was neither Frodo nor Samwise.

“Not much to look at, eh?” he remarked.“Not much left after you take away the good stuff.”

“Are you…?” Adam stupidly asked.“Are you….him?”

“Don’t need a brick wall to fall on you, do you?” the hobbit snapped. Like Gollum, his eyes were heavily lidded and his white hair was stringy, though much fuller.His hands were wide, and his feet were flat and wide.He wore a heavy blue shirt and trousers that ended just below his knees, looking for all the world like a fisherman.

“I’m that little pile of bones and spittle there.”

“You’re a telepath?” Adam asked.

“After a fashion,” Sméagol replied.“If I wasn’t in the predicament I was in, I’d be a rather formidable telepath.”

Adam remembered Gollum’s green lantern eyes. 

“Don’t bother figuring out details,” Sméagol said, condescendingly.“You aren’t going to remember this little conversation.It’s just better that way.”

“Then what’s the point?” Adam asked.

“You asked a question,” Sméagol explained.“How many of us are there in there.Well, I can’t say much about those two,” he said, indicating Gollum, “But there’s several where I’m at.”

“The Ring,” Adam realized.“You’re talking to me from the Ring!”

“You do Starfleet proud, Commander,” Sméagol said, mocking a salute.“But you knew that the Ring had that capability.And you’re right.”

“About what?” Adam asked.

“About the Ring, dummy!Inside the gold exterior, is a crystal lattice which can hold lots of mental energy!” 

“Ah,” Adam said.

“ _The world is a vampire_ ,” Sméagol sang, “ _Set to dray-ee-ay-ee-ay-ayne._ ”He walked around Adam.“It takes and takes and takes from you, leaving your essence within it, and leaving very unpleasant things behind.Look at that,” he said with disdain at Gollum.“It doesn’t know, only that it wants. No wonder the thing split in two.Without me, it’s almost pure id.”

“You don’t seem to want any pity,” Adam noted. 

“Me?Do you see any of me in there?” Sméagol demanded.“All of me—All of Sméagol that matters, that is necessary, is me, trapped in this damned prison.This damned planet!”

“Trapped in the Ring,” Adam repeated.“With the others.With Isildur…with Bilbo Baggins.”

“Yes, and what wonderful roommates they are,” Sméagol sneered.“Oh, but you’re forgetting someone.The other person inside here.”

“Sauron,” Adam realized.“You’re trapped in there with the essence of Sauron.”

“No, you idiot!” Sméagol cried.“Frodo!Frodo is in here, in this ring. I should say, less and less of him on the outside.Or hadn’t you noticed that he already has symptoms of prolonged exposure?”

“Already?” Adam said. 

“If you come away with anything, remember this.He will be completely under the Ring’s control in less than a month at the current rate.So if you want this thing destroyed, you better get him back on his way.”

“If the Ring is destroyed, won’t you be?” Adam asked, suspiciously.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Sméagol said with a shrug.“Maybe I’ll come back somehow, replacing that pile of bones and become a more permanent thorn in your side.I’ll come back and I’ll have Baggins fall in love with me and frustrate that little fat gardener.”He looked at Adam with amusement and confided, “Oh, don’t worry, you won’t remember _that_.”

 

He opened his eyes, and saw Gaji and Faramir hovering above him.“He awakens!” Gaji exclaimed, as Adam sat up.His head pounded with the strength of a hundred drums.“Your breathing was shallow, as if a man close to death.”

“My man saw you simply lean over, and collapse,” Faramir said to him. 

“Did not touch him, hsss,” Adam heard Gollum blubber in the background.

“Is Anborn all right?” Frodo’s voice came from the other side of the chamber.

Adam managed a weak smile.“Better than some,” he quipped.“No, Gollum didn’t touch me.I just…passed out.But for how long?”

“Long enough for secrets to be revealed,” Faramir said.“The time for pretense is over.”

Adam chuckled.“So you say.Did the Captain of Gondor pass the test?”

Faramir nodded.“He did.Our guests will be on their way in the morning.”

Adam nodded.“Good.”He looked at Frodo, his eyes wide with concern.A growing concern filled his heart, and he hastened to add, matching his gaze, “They don’t have much time.”

Frodo nodded, knowingly.“Farewell, Anborn,” he said.“We may not meet again.”

Adam shook his head.“All good friends meet once more.”

 

 

 

 

The next day found Faramir leading his men back toward Osgiliath.Adam and Gaji flanked him.Gaji seemed more at ease in his Ranger garb, though Adam was back in his Starfleet uniform; he was Anborn no more.

“Perhaps you were wise to not trust me,” Faramir said to him.“A weakness to its power lay within my blood, it would seem.”

“It was painful not to say,” Adam told him.“My grandmother came from a world where there are no secrets, and her blood is strong within me.”

“And yet, we may have not hindered his progress as much as it would seem,” Faramir said.“He is now forewarned of the dangers to come, set to find his way into Mordor.”

“But how?” Gaji asked.“There is no other way into Mordor, save for the Black Gate.”

“That’s…not entirely accurate,” Adam said.

“Then you know of the Pass?” Faramir asked.“You know of Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul?”

“I know that it’s a way in,” Adam said.“No way in is safe, though.And then there’s Gollum.”

“Poor thing,” Faramirsaid.

“Hmm,” Adam agreed.“Unrecognizable to himself.”

“Eh?” Gaji asked.

“It’s nothing,” Adam said.“Another day to Mindolluin, and from there, we get to find out how much we can trust your father.If he knows as much as you about Starfleet, then…I don’t know.”

“If you wish it, you could remain Anborn,” Faramir suggested.“It came to your aid amongst the halflings well enough.”

“No,” Adam said, shaking his head.“Denethor already knows that others have come into his realm under other names, or he suspects, if what Gandalf said is true.Men of Gondor, like humans, prefer their honesty more…honest, if that makes any sense.”

“Friend Adam,”Faramir chuckled, “That is the wisest thing you’ve said to me yet!”

 

 

 

The fields just outside the Cats’ Lair were tall.Tall enough to hide anyone from most.Ched sat down, listening for signs of any comers intently with his large Bolian ears. 

He was scared out of his blue wits.

 

They followed him to the Anor system.He didn’t expect to see what he had: An actual Thunderan castle in the middle of nowhere!He didn’t waste any time sticking around to sightsee.He landed his shuttle and ran, just before the shuttle was blown to pieces on the ground.He ran into the field, hoping to the gods that no one had noticed him.He wore a jammer that he stole from one of his pursuers, promising a mask from sensors and trackers, but somehow he didn’t trust that it would do much good against them.

So that when that hand did grab him, He screamed like a little Bolian girl.

 

“Calm down!” the voice came back.“I’m not going to harm you!”

Ched exhaled and saw who it was.A teenage girl, Thunderan, with tan fur and bright red hair, a black streak down the middle.Her arms and hands were out, fingers splayed, in an attempt to placate him.“It’s okay.We got your distress signal.No one’s going to harm you.”

“I’ve been under a lot of stress,” Ched admitted.“You’re lovely, by the way.”

She blushed and looked away.“Okay, now.We have to get you back to the Cats’ Lair.There’s a lot of questions you have to answer.” 

 

 

 

Back at the Lair, There were, indeed, a great many people waiting for Ched.There were several powerful-looking Thunderans in native costume looking at him with the suspicion of tribal natives.Then there were the half-dozen men and women in Starfleet uniforms, their arms folded.

 

“Mister Ched?” Lion-O, the lord of the ThunderCats, began.“This is Lieutenant Jonathan Quick.” He indicated the tall, broad, brown-haired human standing with him.“He’s here to escort you back into…civilized space—” His voice, tinged with the inflection of nobility, had a tinge of annoyance at the term.

“—So that you can testify against the Mob,” Quick finished.“You might be the key to putting Mon*Star back into custody once and for all.”


End file.
